Bad, But Not Alone

 

"We can't beat them either."

3-16.  How many times we will hear this in October?  3-16 is UGA's record against UF since 1990, the year of Spurrier's arrival.  It's embarrasing that the Gators have so dominated the past 19 years.  To put that record in context, though, I decided to look at everyone else's record against UF during that span too.  Well, actually, I'd rather look at 1992 to the present because that's when the SEC conference schedule as we now know it became standardized.

So, since 1992, UGA is 3-14 against the Gators.  In that same period, both UT and LSU are 5-12.  Those teams are playing the Gators in their stadiums every other year, both of which are pretty nasty places to play.  You'd think the home field might significantly alter the series, but it hasn't.  In the pregame hype before a Cocktail Party, no analyst's can resist the 3-16 jab at Georgia. So, why don't LSU and UT get similar treatment from the pundits?  My guess is that since both those teams have won MNCs recently, they get a pass.  Both these programs have been at or above UGA's level during that period, yet they couldn't muster many more wins than we did.

The LSU comparison is actually pretty interesting.  LSU went through some dark days in the 90's.  Georgia had their struggles that decade, too (although not quite as bad as LSU).   Both teams fortunes improved when Spurrier left and they got solid coaching.  The Tigers beat UF in 1997, 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2007.  UGA beat the Gators in 1997, 2004, and 2007.  Notice that UGA hasn't beaten UF unless LSU did it earlier in the same year.  The years that LSU won and we didn't were 2002 and 2005.  I don't need to remind you about those two games. 

We've been bad against the Gators, but we aren't alone.  The most prominent SEC teams aren't performing much better against the Gators.  I wouldn't expect ESPN to mention 5-12 next year in Baton Rouge, but I will be rooting pretty hard for the Tigers.

Quinton