With the firing of head coach Billy Napier on Oct. 19, interim coach Billy Gonzales, former wide receiver coach, will have the chance to claim his first win next week against one of Florida’s biggest rivals: the Georgia Bulldogs.
Since the reign of Bulldogs coach Vince Dooley from the ’60s to the ’80s, Florida head coaches have seen varying degrees of success in what is known as the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.”
Steve Spurrier
Florida’s most dominant stretch of the rivalry came in the 1990s, when head coach Steve Spurrier held the reins.
In 12 years, Spurrier racked up an 11-1 record over the Bulldogs with an average margin of victory of 23.4. The most dominant win came in 1996, when Florida won 47-7 in Jacksonville, marking the Gators’ biggest win in rivalry history. UF quarterback Danny Wuerffel threw four touchdown passes, and the Gators’ defense forced three turnovers.
“It still kind of bothered him that in the 1960s, his team kind of fell short to Georgia as a player,” Kevin Brockway, Florida beat reporter for the Gainesville Sun, said of Spurrier. “He always kind of liked to stick it to him in the ‘90s.”
Spurrier’s only loss came just a year later in 1997. No. 6 Florida, coming off four straight SEC titles, lost to No. 12 Georgia 37-17 despite being 20-point favorites.
Florida quarterbacks Doug Johnson, Noah Brindise and Jesse Palmer combined for four interceptions, with Kirby Smart, former Georgia safety and current Bulldogs head coach, snagging two of them.
Urban Meyer
Between Spurrier’s and Urban Meyer’s tenures, from 2002 to 2004, Florida was led by Ron Zook, who finished 2-1 against the Bulldogs during his three-year tenure.
Meyer maintained UF’s dominance throughout his tenure from 2005-2010, going 5-1 against the Bulldogs.
“For Urban to get that first Georgia win in 2005, I think that kind of legitimized him within the fan base,” Brockway said. “It was a very important win.”
Meyer’s only loss came in 2007, and it marked one of the most iconic moments in the history of the rivalry — the “Gator Stomp.”
After UGA running back Knowshon Moreno scored the game’s first touchdown in the first quarter, the entire Georgia roster ran to the endzone to celebrate, resulting in two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.
Georgia head coach Mark Richt acknowledged he encouraged his players to excessively celebrate after the score, but did not anticipate the whole team celebrating.
The celebration fired up the Bulldogs, sacking UF quarterback Tim Tebow six times en route to a 42-30 victory. It was the first game since 1994 in which both teams scored over 30 points. The last time it had happened was 2010, when Florida defeated Georgia 34-31 in overtime.
A year later, both Meyer and Richt ensured the 2007 Gator Stomp wouldn’t happen again.
It was one of the most significant matchups in rivalry history, as both teams were ranked in the AP Top 10, with the winner having the edge in the SEC East Division race.
Meyer and the Gators responded, as they forced four turnovers in the second half to defeat the Bulldogs 49-10, marking Georgia’s second-worst loss in rivalry history.
“[Urban] used to refer to them as ‘the school up North,’” Brockway said. “[He] definitely was a guy who took it very seriously.’”
Despite Meyer stating the past year’s celebration had no impact on the game, his actions in the final minutes told a different story. He used both of his remaining timeouts with under a minute left to give his team and Gators fans more time to celebrate the victory before the final whistle.
Will Muschamp
However, the tide turned on the rivalry as the Bulldogs won the next three matchups against the Gators under Will Muschamp, who took over after Meyer.
One of the most heartbreaking Gators losses in Muschamp’s 2011-14 tenure came in 2012. Florida walked into the game ranked No. 3 with a 7-0 record, while Georgia came in 6-1 ranked No. 12, marking another pivotal game for their conference and national championship aspirations.
With just over two minutes remaining, down 17-9, UF quarterback Jeff Driskel found tight end Jordan Reed, who headed to the end zone for a touchdown. But UGA linebacker Jarvis Jones punched the ball out, and Georgia recovered the ball for a touchback — giving them the victory.
Georgia’s win gave them the tiebreaker over Florida in the SEC East, sending them to the conference championship game.
Modern era: McElwain, Mullen and Napier
Since the Bulldogs hired head coach Smart in December 2015, Georgia has dominated the rivalry. Heading into 2025’s matchup, Smart has a 7-2 record against the Orange and Blue.
While Jim McElwain (2015-2017) and Dan Mullen (2018-2021) picked up one win each against Georgia, Napier failed to do the same.
McElwain outscored the Bulldogs in his first two matchups but lost 42-7 in his final year. Meanwhile, Mullen’s one win came in 2020, when the Gators emerged victorious 44-28 behind quarterback Kyle Trask’s four touchdown passes.
The Smart versus Napier era of the rivalry had history behind it, as both coaches were part of Nick Saban’s coaching staff at Alabama during the 2015 season. Smart was Saban’s defensive coordinator, while Napier was the wide receivers coach.
Smart showed no mercy against his former colleague. Napier went 0-3 against the Bulldogs, with each loss being decided by double-digits.
The closest Napier came to topping Smart was in 2024. Leading 10-3 with five minutes left in the half, the Gators looked to have all the momentum heading into halftime.
Then, freshman quarterback DJ Lagway went down and was carted off with a hamstring injury. The Florida offense took a major hit, and the Gators were outscored 28-7 in the second half. The Bulldogs held on for a 34-20 victory despite Florida’s defense picking off UGA quarterback Carson Beck three times.
The Gators now head into the bye week before their yearly rivalry matchup against the Bulldogs. With Gonzales as interim, Florida has a chance to kick off a new era with a win against arguably its biggest rival.
“Maybe we can surprise them,” Brockway said of Georgia. “There's hope that a change might be for the good for Florida.”
Contact Adrian Carmona at acarmona@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @abcarmona04.
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).
