ATLANTA – Florida has beaten Ole Miss and Texas this season and lost to Missouri and South Carolina. On Saturday, the No. 17 Gators get a chance to show which version is real, facing No. 3 Georgia at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC with College Football Playoff hopes at stake for both teams.
The rivalry game is being played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium rather than in Jacksonville, where EverBank Stadium is undergoing renovations, according to the Florida athletic department. Both teams are ranked for the first time since 2020, the last year Florida beat Georgia. The Gators are 5-2 overall and 3-2 in the SEC, while the Bulldogs are 6-1 and 4-1, and each comes in off a bye week.
Florida’s season has swung hard from week to week. The Gators beat Ole Miss 52-28 at home, then lost 45-17 to Missouri and 38-19 to South Carolina, Outkick reported. Two weeks ago they won 27-24 at then-No. 7 Texas, a result that pulled them back into the AP Top 25, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
Georgia’s lone loss was a 27-24 defeat at home to Auburn, which leaves coach Kirby Smart’s team trying to avoid its first back-to-back regular-season losses since 2016. The Bulldogs lead the SEC in scoring offense at 43 points per game and in scoring defense at 15.9 points allowed, the Orlando Sentinel reported. Outkick noted that the game opens a stretch of three straight matchups with ranked opponents for Georgia.
The stakes are lopsided but real on both sides. ESPN Analytics puts Georgia’s playoff chances at 88 percent with a win and 47 percent with a loss, TSN reported, and the Bulldogs are favored by double digits. For Florida, ESPN’s Heather Dinich wrote that a win would give the Gators victories over Ole Miss, Texas and Georgia, a résumé that would likely be enough to land them in the committee’s first rankings.
A loss would not end Florida’s season outright. The Gators still have Kentucky, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt and Florida State left, and Outkick said winning out after a loss would leave a case, though an unlikely one. Kentucky is already one of the strongest résumés in the country, and the Wildcats beat Oklahoma 21-13 earlier this month.
The national picture is shifting around them. Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin is out indefinitely with an elbow injury, TSN reported, as the committee prepares its first rankings on Nov. 3. The field itself could also grow, since the CFP is weighing a 24-team format for 2027, though no vote has been taken.
For more on the weekend’s games and the race to the bracket, see the Eastern Herald’s sports coverage. This preview will be updated after the game.
