Georgia-Florida: Dan's Biggest Games

By Dan Hicken First Coast News

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Florida takes on a Bulldog team for the second consecutive week, but Saturday's game against Georgia is much bigger than the one against Mississippi State.

The Georgia-Florida rivalry resumes this weekend at Alltel Stadium.

I've been to every one of them since 1982. Here are some of my re-collections of some of the biggest from the Worlds Largest Outdoor Cocktail party.

1982: My first UF-UGA game. How excited I was. Florida would finally get those Dawgs after 4 straight losses. 200 plus rushing yards from Herschel Walker later, it was 44-0 and I will always remember having come up from Miami to go to school at UF, just how cold it got when the winds blew into the old Gator Bowl off the river. Maybe next year.

1984: Next year is here!! The Gators take care of the Bulldogs 27-0. Two significant moments come to mind now 20 years later. One, Kerwin Bell to Rickey Nattiel for about 96 yards and a touchdown that iced the game. And, the celebration after the game. The police didn't exactly block the field and the boys and myself jumped the fence took down the goalposts and traipsed around Jacksonville with them. The big thrill for the fellas, seeing their mugs on the front page of the Times-Union the next day. In fact if you go back in the archives here at First Coast News, you'll see a young Dan Hicken running around the field with goal posts in hand. It kept me going until...

1985: I'll steal this line as told by some sportscaster or writer. It took the University of Florida 60 years to get to number one in the nation. It took them 60 minutes to lose it. That's right for the first time in history UF was the #1 team in the land fresh off its big win on the plains over Auburn 14-10. Four big running plays later those Dawgs had beaten UF 24-3. I'm not sure who they were: Lars Tate, Tim Worley, Keith Henderson, but those Dawgs ran wild on UF that day and sent hopes of a national title down the tubes. By the way, after that one, UGA fans storm the field and beat up Albert the Alligator. After this one, the police stopped the on field stuff .

I'll add a few memories each day as we get closer to Saturday and the 3:30 kickoff. Remember, Mark Richt has still never beaten UF, he's 0-3 against the Gators. If not now, when?

Well, since we last talked, Ron Zook has been relieved of his duties effective at season's end ...there's no way to gauge how his team will perform..but after being down there Monday it seems to me they're pretty upset and don't look like a very focused football team... Now on to more memories....

1986: The game that put Rickey Nattiel into the Florida-Georgia Hall of Fame, playing with a bum shoulder the Gators All-american wide out one handed three touchdown receptions from Kerwin Bell and beat UGA 31-19.....

1990: Steve Spurrier said one of his main goals was to beat the Dawgs, after all he reasoned, the games are in the Gator Bowl, UF takes a bus, Georgia flys, and the game is in the Sunshine state...Then he backed it up in his first game as head coach at UF by beating Georgia 38-7 in one of the most lopsided games in the history of the series......

1992: It was one of Spurrier's worst teams..but he told his guys they don't write books about games with Tennessee or LSU, but they do about the Gators and Dawgs...Georgia seemed to have the better team going in, Garrison Hearst was a heisman trophy candidate, but UF prevailed again 26-24....after the win Spurrier remarked that Georgia keeps getting the better players but Florida keeps winning the games infuriating Ray Goff.....

More memories tomorrow: Dan

1994: The Dawgs come to Gainesville, Alltell Stadium was being renovated for the Jaguars, and I remember seeing then Jags-coach Tom Coughlin doing some scouting at the game. I also remember a second quarter explosion with defensive touchdowns galore, James Bates, etc, and the Gators staying perfect in the Spurrier era with a 52-14 win...still it didn't seem right for the game to be outside of Jacksonville.

1995: When asked why he scored a last minute touchdown on the Dawgs to make it 52-17, Steve Spurrier wryly told Norm Carlson and the media, because no one's ever hung 50 on the Dawgs here in Athens....No one enjoyed beating UGA as much as SOS----and the win in Athens kept him perfect as a coach at 6-0 against them....

1997: The worm finally turned for Jim Donnan and the Dawgs...UF took the lead in the second half...but SOS kept trying to throw it instead of run it with Fred Taylor and Robert Edwards scored 4 touchdowns ...The Dawgs got to celebrate with a 37-17 win....thier only victory since 1990....but a win that ultimately kept UF out of the SEC championship game that season...

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