ESPN 98.1 FM – 850 AM WRUF ESPN 98.1 FM – 850 AM WRUF
After a two week layoff, Florida football is back and in Jacksonville ready to take on rival Georgia. Both teams enter the contest unranked for only the second time since 1980. The Dawgs have won the last two meetings and look to extend that streak to three in a row for the first time since 1987-1989. Want to go even further back? The last time both teams entered this rivalry on a two game losing streak was 1926.
While this game may seem disenchanting to the causal fan, the winner will still have a glimmer of hope at claiming the East division of the Southeastern Conference… that is if Missouri can manage to lose twice and the winner of this game close out the remainder of their conference schedule with wins.
When it comes to rivalry games, it’s been a rough sample size for UF head coach Will Muschamp. So far in his two and half year tenure at Florida, Muschamp is 4-4 against rivals (Miami, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida State.) Against Georgia, he’s 0-2 while Dawgs head coach Mark Richt is 4-8 against the Gators.
Florida hopes to make corrections especially on the offensive side of the ball after poor performances in their two losses a couple weeks ago at LSU and Missouri. UF is scoring 21 points a game that ranks 104th in the nation while also being near the bottom of the NCAA in total offense with 336 yards per contest that ranks 109th.
Look to see freshman running back Kelvin Taylor have his first collegiate start to help bring some sort of spark to the offense after rushing for a career high 74 yards against Missouri on 12 carries. Florida is also hoping to shore up blocking issues on the offensive line that hopefully can give junior redshirt quarterback Tyler Murphy time to throw the ball. In the three wins that Murphy played in, his passing completion was over 70 percent and in the two losses it dropped to 53 percent.
This Florida defense will have a tough task trying to stop senior quarterback Aaron Murray and the Georgia offense that ranks 29th in the nation in yards per game. While UF has a defense that ranks fourth in total yards allowed, Murray is passing for around 280 yards a game. To make matters even worse, head coach Mark Richt said he expects sophomore running back Todd Gurley to make a return after sitting out the last three games due to an ankle injury.
Murray currently has 112 career touchdown passes which ranks him second all-time in the SEC. If he throws three more on Saturday he will break the record that former Gator quarterback Danny Wuerffel has with 114.
You can catch all the live coverage of the game on ESPN 850 WRUF starting at 12:30 pm.
