This season, Florida football is off to its worst start since 1986.
But in Florida’s history, a 3-4 start means nothing for rivalry games. The 1986 team finished stronger than it started, coming back from a 1-4 start to take down UF’s two biggest rivals, Florida State and Georgia, and defeating conference rival Auburn to finish the season 6-5. This year’s team will have the same opportunity in Jacksonville, and again at home against Florida State.
Adrian White, a starting senior for Florida’s 1986 team and a seven-year NFL safety, recalled how Florida turned that season around.
“It was the camaraderie of the team,” White said. “The players we had and just being together and coming together.”
Since then, Florida has only topped all three of those opponents in the same season twice, doing so in 1991 and 1995. The last time the Gators beat It beat both Florida State and Georgia waslast in 2009. The Gators consistently faced all three teams nearly every year until 2002. Now, they see Georgia and Florida State every season, with Auburn added every few years.
The 1986 team took down then-No. 5 Auburn first and edged out a one-point win, 18-17, after being down 17-0. Florida, then 4-4, came out on top against Georgia 31-19 to claim a winning record. The Gators fell next to Kentucky but came back to top Florida State 17-13 to end their season and surpass .500.
“To get those wins, to just have some pride that people still had to recognize us,” White said.
The rivalry wins, more than any other, propelled the comeback, White added. The second-team All-American knew that, despite feeling the effects of the team’s probation, the rivalry games were an opportunity, and they capitalized on it.
The magnitude and uniqueness of the Florida-Georgia rivalry are felt on both sides. Georgia’s 1986 head coach, Vince Dooley, was not only at the helm at the time, but stayed around the program and watched the competition evolve.
“I think it’s just gotten more intense,” Dooley told DawgNation. “It has been unusual in that there's been chunks where teams dominated for periods of time, as opposed to back and forth.”
Another player from UF’s 1986 team, quarterback Kerwin Bell, is now the head coach at Western Carolina. He fondly remembers his time competing against the Bulldogs.
“It’s just a great experience to be able to go through that game and play in it for four years,” Bell said. “That was a very big highlight for me in my career.”
Bell came to Florida as a walk-on, and by his second year, he became a starter and earned SEC Player of the Year in 1984. He had 7,585 career passing yards and 56 touchdowns and was inducted into the Florida-Georgia Hall of Fame.
After playing and coaching for teams with their own rivalries, Bell confirmed the energy of the Florida-Georgia matchup stands out, with half the crowd wearing red and black and half in orange and blue. Bell was a junior in 1986, but he recalled the nerves and excitement from the first time he played in Jacksonville as a redshirt freshman.
“Some of the veterans said ‘Kerwin, this is different now, you’re going to be nervous.’” he recalled. “I was like, ‘No I’m a veteran, I’ve already started a few games, I’m ready to go.’ When you get out there, even just the warm-ups, my legs were shaking.”
The all-time record between Florida and Georgia currently stands at 56-44, with Georgia taking a slight edge. The Bulldogs have secured the last four games, with Florida last winning in 2020, 44-28.
Throughout its history, the rivalry games have served as both a crushing blow and a major confidence boost. This year’s team has a similar opportunity to make it a positive and spark a comeback against its rivals.
“You just got to keep your head down,” Bell said. “There’s always going to be noise in the system, but you’ve got to believe in each other and understand that if we are going to do this thing, it's going to happen with the men in this room.”
Contact Ava DiCecca at adicecca@alligator.org. Follow her on X @avadicecca24.
Ava is a sophomore sports journalism student and the volleyball beat reporter for fall 2025. She enjoys playing basketball and volleyball in her free time and going on beach trips with friends. She has been a Boston sports fan all her life (Brad Marchand we miss you).
