JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The game thousands of fans have waited for all year is finally here.
The Georgia Bulldogs, ranked second in the nation, will square off with the Florida Gators on Saturday afternoon.
Fans have been gearing up since early Saturday and did not hesitate to share their excitement with News4JAX.
“It’s a beautiful day and it’s college football, anything could happen,” Tyler Coger, a Gators fan, said.
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All city parking lots at EverBank Field opened at 8 a.m., and fans filled the lots outside EverBank Stadium as the sun began to peak over the horizon — and they came with a lot of confidence.
“Great atmosphere,” Coger said. “I see a lot of red around here so gotta watch my back, but obviously Gators aren’t scared of the little puppy dogs. So we’re ready.”
It‘s a matchup with so much history and intensity that they don’t even know what to call it.
Is it the “Florida-Georgia Game“ or the ”Georgia-Florida Game"?
“Oh it’s Georgia-Florida,” Jeff Maddox said in a Georgia shirt. “The dogs are always on top.”
Miguel Awamy disagreed.
“It’s always Florida-Georgia,” he said. “You can do it alphabetically it’s always Florida-Georgia.”
Whether fans cheer on the Georgia Bulldogs or Florida Gators or choose to stay neutral, fans see the matchup as a way to blend orange and blue with red and black. Some even said that Jacksonville is the only place that can do it.
“This is where people meet up with their friends who they only see this time of year,” Awamy said. “To see that stadium split orange and blue, red and black like that that’s something that you can’t get anywhere.”
Since 1933, the annual matchup between the Bulldogs and the Gators has only been played anywhere but Jacksonville twice.
And that was when the city was fixing up the stadium for the Jaguars to join the NFL.
Now, with more renovations on the way, the game will take a trip to Atlanta and Tampa.
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However, it will be coming back to Jacksonville between 2028 and 2031.
But some fans wish the teams didn’t take such a “neutral” approach to the game’s venture away from Duval.
“We really do hope it would be a home and home,” Maddox said. “We would love to go to Gainesville. We never played in Gainesville. You know it would be awesome if it would be in Athens and then come back.”
“I’d like to get a win in Sanford [Stadium] in between the hedges,” Florida fan Michael Sims said.
But no matter where the game is played, fans said they are excited for what the future holds both on and off the field.
Many said they look forward to cheering their teams on with their friends from across state lines.
“I think it’s great because football is something that brings people together,” Awamy said. “It’s a uniter. You got friends that you make at these games. There are family reunions that are built around this. There’s just so many memories that are made at this particular game and you gotta realize we’re here for football. The camaraderie is just off the charts.”
It’s an event where family and friends are split by their jerseys but brought together by the game.