The Ninth Game Is Collecting Its Toll, One Body at a Time

Florida-Georgia used to be about who wanted it more. On Oct. 31 in Atlanta, it may come down to who has more players who can still walk without a limp.

They called it the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. This year it may be the World's Largest Outdoor Training Room. Bring your own ice.

In Gainesville, the bye week showed up like a cold towel on a hot neck. Florida (5-2, 3-2 SEC) beat No. 7 Texas, then spent Saturday on the couch. Best break Jon Sumrall has caught all month.

The Gators were ranked 17th in the latest AP poll. Miami held on to the No. 1 ranking.

This week's AP Top 25

1. Miami (Fla.)

2. Ohio State

3. Georgia

4. Indiana

5. Notre Dame

6. Utah

7. UCLA

8. BYU

9. Kentucky

10. Alabama

11. Texas

12. Ole Miss

13. Texas Tech

14. Wake Forest

15. LSU

16. Tennessee

17. Florida

18. Houston

19. SMU

20. Boise State (tie)

20. Northwestern (tie)

22. Arizona

23. Missouri

24. Oklahoma State

25. Wisconsin

Florida's injury picture

Aaron Philo took a shot to his throwing shoulder against South Carolina. Sumrall called it a "couple week deal," and Philo is questionable. Meanwhile, Tramell Jones Jr. made his first career start and beat the seventh-ranked team in the country. Sumrall hasn't announced who starts.

Vernell Brown III, Florida's leading receiver, hasn't played since a low-grade knee strain against Ole Miss on Sept. 26. Sumrall said he feels "really good about where he is." Brown is questionable. Bailey Stockton has been fighting a lower back injury since what Sumrall called "basically a car crash on the field with two guys." Eric Singleton Jr. (ankle) is healing, and running back Duke Clark (foot) is a question mark.

With Brown out, redshirt freshman Dallas Wilson became the main target. It's a receiver room held together with tape and faith, but it's holding.

Georgia's injury picture

Up in Athens, Kirby Smart is doing the same thing with more tape.

Georgia (6-1, 4-1 SEC) limped into its open date after a 27-24 home loss to Auburn, and Smart didn't dress it up: "It seems that we're more beat up than we've been in the past."

That's the most buttoned-up coach in America, a man who would rather give up his playbook than an injury report. Believe him.

All-American safety KJ Bolden hurt his right leg against Alabama and watched Auburn in a walking boot. "We're hopeful to get him back," Smart said. Translation: nobody knows. Quarterback Gunner Stockton left on the first play against Auburn with a shoulder stinger.

None of that has scared the market. As of Sunday morning, Polymarket had Florida as a 10.5-point underdog, with the total at 55.5. Georgia has won five straight in the series and eight of the last nine, and leads it 57-44-2 by Florida's count. Georgia says 58. The two schools can't even agree on how many times they've beaten each other up.

Around the SEC

And Florida and Georgia are hardly the only ones counting bodies.

Arch Manning got up Saturday night. Ole Miss end Kam Franklin hit him hard enough that an independent medical examiner sent him to the sideline. Then Manning came back, plunged in for the go-ahead touchdown, and Texas survived, 34-27.

Survived is the right word. Now count the bodies.

Left tackle Trevor Goosby, a preseason All-American, was carted off holding his left knee. Star receiver Cam Coleman landed on his left shoulder and was soon on the sideline in street clothes, which is never the outfit you want.

"Obviously, neither of them look very good," Steve Sarkisian said. When a coach says that after a win, start bracing for Monday.

Colin Simmons, the nation's sack leader, is out about three weeks with a high ankle sprain. And Goosby's replacement got beat on the strip-sack touchdown that started the Rebels' comeback. One injury turned into three.

Ole Miss limped home too. Tailback Kewan Lacy reinjured his left shoulder and left on a cart. "He was in a lot of pain," Pete Golding said. "Same shoulder."

The cost of a ninth game

This is what the SEC paid for. The league wanted nine conference games, and in 2026 it got them. Gone is the cupcake parked in mid-October, the sorry directional school that let the bruises fade while the band played. Add prime-time kickoffs that put players to bed at 2 a.m., and the recovery window is about as wide as a Kirby Smart smile.

Lane Kiffin said it in September, after LSU's Whit Weeks broke his leg: "Be careful what you wish for, SEC."

People rolled their eyes, because Kiffin always has an angle. It reads more like a forecast every week. Last Wednesday, Oklahoma listed 13 players as out, doubtful or questionable. Ole Miss and Alabama had 10 each. Those aren't injury reports. They're casualty lists.

Everybody wanted more big games. TV wanted them, and so did the guy in the end-zone suite with the pastel golf shirt. Nobody asked the 19- and 20-year-olds who play nine league games with no breather, then a title game, then a playoff. Nobody asked the guys on the cart.

And November hasn't even started.

So go ahead and check the line. Then check the injury report. Florida-Georgia won't be decided by who wants it more this year. It'll be decided by who's left standing.

File photo: Florida defenders tackle an Auburn ball carrier. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media.