The Cocktail Party Takes the Connector
Written by Jarvis Prime on October 24, 2026
GEORGIA MONEYBALL — Saturday, October 24, 2026
For the first time since 1995, Georgia and Florida will not meet in Jacksonville, and Atlanta is about to find out what it signed up for.
ALBANY, GA — · By the RFA Sports Desk
Since 1995, Georgia and Florida have met in Jacksonville every year. A man could plan around it the way he plans around the tax man. This year the stadium down there is being renovated, so a week from today the whole affair moves to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, 3:30 in the afternoon on ABC, on Halloween. Yahoo Sports reported the kickoff this week. Somewhere a Gator fan has just found out there will be no beach and is taking it badly.
On paper it is neutral ground, and the Moneyball model gives nobody a home edge. Paper has never sat in traffic on the Downtown Connector. Atlanta is about 70 miles from Athens, and this desk would bet the crowd leans red, though that stays a guess until somebody reports how the tickets split. The man who might feel most at home is wearing orange. WRUF noted that Florida tailback Jadan Baugh is an Atlanta native who put together four straight 100-yard rushing games. Georgia may find it is hosting somebody else's homecoming.
On paper it is neutral ground, and paper has never sat in traffic on the Downtown Connector.
The bookmakers are not sentimental about the venue. Sports Illustrated reported that DraftKings opened Georgia as a 10.5-point favorite, while the consensus this desk was tracking earlier in the week said 12.5. Bulldogs On SI added that Georgia has not been an underdog to Florida since 2016 but has covered only once in the last four meetings. Our machine agrees with that second part. It has Georgia 30, Florida 21, a 70 percent winner, but it says Georgia covers 12.5 only 41.7 percent of the time. ESPN's FPI likes Georgia more, at 82.7 percent.
There is a reason nobody in this rivalry is talking big. Last Saturday, five of the AP's top seven teams lost, and Florida's 27-24 win at Texas was one of them. Tennessee beat Alabama 26-10. BYU beat Notre Dame 28-24. Ohio State won at Indiana 19-15 and ended a 22-game winning streak. Kirby Smart told reporters Tuesday, "It's easy to use the word parity." Then he said what matters for next week: "I think you're going to see more of that and it's actually going to be who deals with it best."
So here is the setup. Georgia has won five straight in the series, according to Yahoo Sports, and it comes off a bye after losing to Auburn. Florida comes off a bye after beating Texas, and the game is in a city where Georgia people outnumber Florida people by a margin no sportsbook will list. If the Dogs lose this one an hour and ten minutes from home, they can't blame the long drive or the sea air. Halloween is a fitting date for it, because Florida could turn out to be either one.
The Notebook
- THE SCHOLAR UNDER CENTER: Georgia's athletic department said Gunner Stockton has been named a 2026 NFF National Scholar-Athlete and Campbell Trophy finalist. He is the first Georgia quarterback honored since Aaron Murray in 2013.
- AROUND THE SEC TODAY: The slate has Alabama at 13.5 over the Aggie Cadets at 3:30, and South Carolina as a 2.5-point coin-flip against the Volunteer Riflemen in the same window.
- THE COUNTDOWN: Seven days to Florida in Atlanta. The first SEC availability report for the game is due Wednesday.
Written in the tradition of Lewis Grizzard, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1946–1994.
Hear the desk read tonights report on Radio Free Albany, WPFQ 96.7.
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