By GatorBait Media Staff ST. PETERSBURG — The Tampa Bay Rays are not done yet. Facing a sweep, the Rays scored twice in the bottom of the 12th inning Tuesday night to beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 in Game 4 of the World Series at Tropicana Field, pushing the series to a fifth game. Milwaukee still leads the best-of-seven series 3-1 and can clinch the title Wednesday night. Game 5 is at 8 p.m. ET at the Trop on Fox. The Brewers had gone ahead 3-2 in the top of the 12th on a home run off Rays reliever Ian Seymour. Tampa Bay answered in the bottom half against Antonio Senzatela and Shane Drohan. Drohan faced four batters, allowed four hits and did not record an out, and he was charged with the loss. Seymour got the win. Chandler Simpson led the Rays with three hits, including a double, and an RBI. Jonny DeLuca and pinch hitter Ben Williamson also drove in runs, and Liam Hicks had two hits. For Milwaukee, shortstop Cooper Pratt went 4-for-5 with a home run, a double and two RBIs, and David Hamilton also homered. Rays starter Griffin Jax worked four innings and allowed two runs on four hits with six strikeouts. Five Tampa Bay relievers, Kevin Kelly, Nick Martinez, Bryan Baker, Tyler Wells and Cam Booser, then combined for seven scoreless innings to keep the game tied at 2 from the fifth through the 11th. Dustin May started for Milwaukee and gave up two runs in three innings. The announced crowd was 40,514. Where are the Gators? Florida fans looking for one of their own on the Rays will come up empty. According to MLB's official roster data, no former Florida Gator is on Tampa Bay's 26-man World Series roster, its 40-man roster or its coaching staff. The only University of Florida product in this World Series is in the other dugout, and he is not suiting up. Right-hander Brandon Sproat is on Milwaukee's 40-man roster but not its active World Series roster, and he did not pitch in Game 4. The state's college ties in this series run through Tallahassee instead. Rays manager Kevin Cash and shortstop Taylor Walls are both Florida State products, as is Drohan, who took the Game 4 loss. The Brewers need one more win. The Rays need three in a row, starting Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET at Tropicana Field on Fox.

By GatorBait Media Staff GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The ball went in this time. Nine days after a 4-for-29 night from 3-point range in an exhibition loss to Baylor in Jacksonville, top-ranked Florida found its stroke Tuesday in an 85-68 exhibition win over Stetson at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center, with Urban Klavzar and Denzel Aberdeen combining for 46 points and 10 3-pointers. That pair went 0-for-15 from deep against Baylor. Against the Hatters, Klavzar hit 6 of 12 from the arc and Aberdeen 4 of 5. "Me and Urb were not going to miss that way again," Aberdeen said. "We were going to step up and hit shots, but it also had to translate to the defensive end. Do that, we'll be fine." Klavzar, making his first start as a Gator with Boogie Fland out because of illness, finished with a career-high 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Aberdeen added 22 on 9-of-12, plus four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Denzel Aberdeen, who hit 4 of 5 from three, brings the ball up against the Hatters. Photo by Chris Spears/GatorBait Media. "We've been working so hard since the summer," Klavzar said. "It was nice to see the ball go in." Florida shot 50.8% overall and 11 of 27 from three. The rest of the night was the problem. Stetson, picked to finish near the bottom of the Atlantic Sun Conference, trailed just 42-40 at halftime, grabbed 16 offensive rebounds, scored 28 points in the paint and lost the glass only 40-36. Alex Doyle buried 6 of 9 threes for 18 points off the Hatters' bench, and Thiago Sucatzky added 18 points and six assists. The turning point came early in the second half, when a 7-0 Florida burst, five of the points from Thomas Haugh in transition, pushed the lead to 11. Stetson got back within five with 11 minutes left and within seven inside four minutes before the Gators scored the final 10 points. Thomas Haugh finishes at the rim. Haugh had five points in the 7-0 run that opened the second half. Photo by Chris Spears/GatorBait Media. Alex Condon filled the sheet with 15 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four blocks. Haugh had 14 points and seven rebounds, and Rueben Chinyelu added six points and eight boards. The bench was another story. Stetson's reserves outscored Florida's 28-4, one game after Baylor's backups won that matchup 33-3. "Clearly, I don't think our bench is anywhere near good enough," Todd Golden said. The practice games are over. Florida opens the regular season Monday, Nov. 2, against No. 14 Miami in the Orion180 Tip-Off Classic in Tampa, with a 6 p.m. tip on ESPN2. The Hurricanes won 26 games a year ago and return a strong core. "We're worried about next Monday, that game," Golden said. "A lot." Editor's note: More to come, including Chris Spears' courtside Three Things. Cover photo: Urban Klavzar drives against Stetson on Tuesday night at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Photo by Chris Spears/GatorBait Media.

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 Indoor 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.

Photo: Florida and Georgia players battle during their Nov. 2, 2024, meeting in Jacksonville. File photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media. Florida has a chance to build on the win at Texas when it faces Georgia on Saturday. A victory in Atlanta would give Jon Sumrall's first season a major boost. ESPN's College GameDay will be in Bloomington for Indiana-Minnesota. Florida fans can wish the show had chosen this rivalry. The Gators still have a national audience and a meaningful game to win. The immediate question is who starts at quarterback. Aaron Philo and Tramell Jones Jr. were both taking reps Monday, with health and availability guiding Sumrall's decision. Jones led the win at Texas; Philo is recovering from a shoulder injury. Kirby Smart praised both quarterbacks and Buster Faulkner's offense. His comment that the system doesn't require a perfect quarterback was part of that praise. Florida can take those remarks at face value and focus on its preparation. Whoever starts needs protection and help from Jadan Baugh and the running game. Vernell Brown III's return to practice is encouraging, although his availability for Saturday remains uncertain. The Texas result gives Florida reason for confidence. Protecting the ball, finishing drives and playing disciplined defense will matter far more than the week's coverage. The Gators have an opportunity to make another strong statement on the field. Kickoff is 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday, Oct. 31, on ABC at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Photo: Florida coach Jon Sumrall on the field before the Gators' Sept. 26, 2026, game against Ole Miss at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. File photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media. "I think anybody that says it's just another game doesn't have a real good pulse of what reality is in college football or to our fan base." Jon Sumrall said that Monday at his press conference at the Heavener Football Center in Gainesville, a combination of excitement and reverence showing on his face and in his demeanor. Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta (3:30 p.m., ABC) will be his first Florida-Georgia game. The fact that the game will be played somewhere other than Jacksonville, the long-standing traditional home of the rivalry game does nothing to dampen his enthusiasm or his understanding of what winning this game means. It is more, much more, than border state bragging rights and the importance goes far beyond two ranked teams squaring off, both of them very much in the hunt for a second trip to Atlanta this season for the SEC Championship Game and beyond that, the College Football Playoff. For the 17th-ranked Gators (5-2, 3-2 SEC), a loss would jeopardize their chances of making the SEC Championship Game for the first time since 2020 and reaching the College Football Playoff for the first time. The four-team playoff introduced in 2014 expanded to 12 teams in 2024. For No. 3 Georgia (6-1, 4-1 SEC), it is a matter of keeping up with the SEC Joneses, in this case the rather surprising Kentucky Wildcats (7-1, 5-1 SEC). Since 2011 Georgia has played for the SEC championship 10 times, winning four, all of them since Kirby Smart became the head coach. The Bulldogs broke a 41-year national championship drought in 2021 and repeated in 2022. How the rivalry changed There was a time when the roles were reversed and Florida was the dominant team. Steve Spurrier went 11-1 against Georgia, won six SEC championships and the 1996 national title. Ron Zook won two out of three and might have had a perfect record against the Bulldogs except he was fired on the Monday before the 2004 Florida-Georgia game. Urban Meyer was 5-1 against Georgia, winning both SEC and national championships in 2006 and 2008. Since Florida's 21-year dominance that began in Spurrier's first year on the job in 1990, the Gators have been a revolving door of coaches. Sumrall, in his first year on the job, is the fifth head coach since Meyer took a hiatus after the 2010 season. Georgia, meanwhile, has been the picture of stability. Mark Richt took over the Georgia program from Jim Donnan in 2001, and won two SEC championships in 15 years, going 5-10 against the Gators. Richt was fired and Georgia native son Kirby Smart took over the program in 2016. Since then Georgia is 123-22. In his 11th season on the job, Smart is 8-2 against the Gators, losing only the 2016 and 2020 games. What Georgia has going for it is momentum, which only adds to the history and significance of Florida-Georgia. For Florida fans who remember the good old days from 1990-2010, what Georgia has done under Kirby Smart is a painful reminder of what happens when there is a confluence of good coaching, exceptional recruiting and stability at the top. Georgia has it. It is Sumrall's job to restore some sanity (that's from the Florida perspective) to the rivalry. More than half the players who will suit up for Florida Saturday have never played in this game. They came to Florida from the transfer portal or as wide-eyed freshmen. Georgia's program under Smart has grown to a point of using the portal only to add a few impact players each year. Nearly the entire roster is home grown. "Georgia the way they've done it and the way they've got it built now, they don't go out and just go to the portal to get a third-string guy," Sumrall said, adding "Most of their roster is because they've done a good job of layering. Our roster, there's a lot of guys playing Saturday, I'm teaching them what this game needs to mean to us. And we haven't had a recent history of the success we need to have in this rivalry to make it as competitive as it should be." To put that in perspective, Georgia has won five consecutive games against Florida. The Gators last beat the Bulldogs in 2020. Sumrall spent the bye week balancing the history and traditions that have always made this one of the great rivalry games in the country with what has to happen for the Gators to get their third win over a top-ten ranked team this season. Georgia enters as the higher-ranked team. "First, you want to make sure they understand it is a rivalry game," Sumrall said. "They need to have awareness of that. And then you have to bring it back to, while there's all this heightened publicity around the game, it's still a football game and what wins football games. So you have to lean on both. You can't just be all hype about highlight videos and the history of the game, without, hey, here are the plays we're gonna run, here's how we're gonna block them, here's the progression of the quarterback, here's where we're trying to tackle him, here's what we're trying to do on defense to slow them down. That's the stuff that really matters. But I do think the guys need to understand that the game has, it counts for one game on your record, but it has a different feel." A different feel, yes, when the Florida discussion has everything to do with traditions and the recent history of the game that highly favors Georgia. Smart, who was on the losing side in Athens the last time Florida-Georgia had to take a vacation from Jacksonville due to stadium issues, can speak to his team from a personal perspective. He was on the field when Eric Kresser threw a touchdown pass to Travis McGriff to finish off the Gators' 52-17 win over Georgia in 1995, the first time an opposing team had ever hung 50 or more on the Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium. He was also on the only Georgia team that beat Spurrier in 1997. Building a roster for the rivalry And now, Smart is the driving force for an era of Georgia dominance. For Sumrall to change the momentum of the rivalry, he has to build a roster that is Georgia-like in that it is mostly home grown and stacked with talent so that when one player goes down due to injury a player of equal or greater talent is next man up. When a Georgia player leaves for the NFL as so many do, Smart cherry picks from the portal. "I actually studied their roster some during the bye week because I do think they've been really consistent," Sumrall said. "And when you look through our personnel reports that we do on each team as we get ready to go into a game week, it tells us previous school – whether you know high school, college slash high school. These guys have a lot of guys' previous school from a college standpoint, it was Georgia. So I think as you get to the model, like year one of our program, a lot of our guys on their previous school it says somewhere other than Florida. "We retained a good number of players: roughly half our roster were here last year, but the other half was not. So half of our roster says the high school they just came from, or a different school and so I think as you build, and like I said earlier, they're in year 11, we're in year one. As you build in year four, five, six, seven, whatever, you start to move forward. In a perfect world in the portal year and year out, you're adding six to 10 difference makers. In some years, it might be five or might be 12, so I'm not locking myself into like, hey, we're only adding six to 10 every year. Some years it might be five. Some years it might have to be 12 or 13. It better never again be high 20s, 30s, or we got a real problem. So as you build your roster, you want to add portal pieces that are like frontline starters when you have immediate glaring needs and holes. This past year, we had to go out and get guys out of the portal just to be able to field a football team that could practice. Never again will that be the case here, I hope." It shouldn't be lost on anyone that Florida comes into this game with the momentum of a 27-24 win over Texas, which just two weeks before had been ranked No. 1. Georgia spent a week at the top following the Texas loss to Oklahoma that knocked the Longhorns out of the top spot, but in their first game after ascending to No. 1, the Bulldogs were stunned by unranked Auburn, 27-24. Yes, the same team that Florida beat 44-39 in Auburn whacked Georgia in Athens. With a win, Florida keeps hope alive. With a loss, Georgia is still very much in the hunt for the SEC Championship Game and the playoff. So, much is at stake Saturday, which is the way it should be. Great rivalry games deserve far reaching consequences and Florida-Georgia has them. By no means is this just another game.

Photo: Jon Sumrall celebrates with Florida players after the Oct. 17 win at Texas. File photo courtesy UAA and Hannah White. The Buddy Martin Show is live Monday night, Oct. 26, with Florida-Georgia week on the agenda. Join Buddy for the conversation about Jon Sumrall's quarterback decision and the week ahead for the Gators. WATCH THE SHOW LIVE Tonight's episode, "Florida Gators: Sumrall Won't Name a QB for Georgia," is streaming on The Buddy Martin Show's YouTube channel. Tap the watch link above to open the broadcast directly. More from Buddy Read Buddy's new column: Florida-Georgia: Sumrall Knows the Math. He's Just Not Telling Georgia Who Takes the Snap. Keep this article handy for the link to tonight's episode. Photo courtesy UAA (University Athletic Association, FloridaGators.com) and Hannah White. See more of her work on Instagram, and the official Florida Gators photo galleries at FloridaGators.com.

Orange and blue on one side, red and black on the other: Florida and Georgia fans split the stands in Jacksonville in 2008. This year the game moves to Atlanta, where the split may look more like 60-40, Bulldogs. Photo by jasonduhon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Original photograph, unaltered. You can’t buy what Georgia has. You have to grow it. Georgia week usually brings out the worst in a football coach. He puffs his chest, praises the opponent’s long snapper and swears it’s just another game, which is like saying Halloween is just another Saturday. This one happens to fall on Halloween, which seems about right. Jon Sumrall skipped the theater Monday. He walked into the room and handed over something Gator fans may not want to hear: a scouting report on why the Bulldogs are who they are, and why Florida isn’t. Not yet, anyway. “I think it’s year 11 for Kirby there,” Sumrall said. “You can tell they have layered development.” Layered. Like a wedding cake, or a lasagna, or the debt Florida has piled up in this series. Georgia recruited great players “year-in, year-out.” They developed them. They’re “calloused,” “strong” and “physical,” and all of it, Sumrall said, has “been built over time.” Translation: You can’t buy what Georgia has. You have to grow it, and Georgia has been out there fertilizing since the Obama administration. Georgia, Georgia, Georgia “Georgia, Georgia, Georgia, Georgia,” Sumrall said. No, this was not Sumrall trying to invoke that Ray Charles classic as a singer. It was just a dose of pure reality. He did his bye-week homework on Georgia’s personnel report, the sheet that lists each player’s previous school. Down the Bulldogs’ list, over and over, the previous school was the same school. Kirby isn’t running a football program so much as a family farm. “When we can become that,” Sumrall said, “is when you… create consistency.” Now flip to Florida’s sheet. Roughly half the Gators were here last year. The other half just showed up from a high school or somewhere else, a few of them probably still asking where the cafeteria is. “They’re in Year 11,” Sumrall said. “We’re in Year One.” That’s not an excuse. It’s arithmetic. Every Gator fan who has watched Georgia treat this game like a standing dinner reservation needs to learn the math. Never Again 3 Sumrall didn’t sugarcoat his first winter. Florida hit the transfer portal “just to be able to field a football team that could practice.” Not to win a championship. To practice. That’s like shopping for a car so you’ll have something to park in the driveway. December and January were a minefield. Players he thought were staying left, and players he figured were gone stayed. “You didn’t know where you were going to step and what was going to blow up on you,” he said. Welcome to modern college football, where the roster has a revolving door and every agent has a cell phone. His plan from here sounds almost quaint: Recruit high school kids. Develop them. Keep them. Use the portal for six to 10 difference-makers a year to plug real holes, not to restock the whole pantry. “It better never again be high 20s, 30s,” he said, “or we got a real problem.” He also noted that Georgia doesn’t shop the portal for backups. When the Dawgs have a need, they go get a great player like Isiah Canion. “They don’t go out and just go to the portal to get a third-string guy,” Sumrall said. Some programs shop at Neiman Marcus. Others hit the clearance rack hoping for a 46 long. Then came the line of the day, on Georgia linebacker Chris Cole, whom Kirby has been raving about: “If I had Chris Cole on my roster, I’d be raving about retaining him too.” The One-Year Flip Nobody in Gainesville gets misty-eyed over “process.” Gator fans want to hear about process the way they want to hear about root canals. Sumrall knows it, so he tried to have it both ways. “They didn’t just do a one-year flip,” he said of Georgia. “They’ve done a build from the ground up. And I want a one-year flip, too. I want to win every day.” Don’t we all, coach. Don’t we all. He admitted his short-term plan has been hit-and-miss: “some of it’s gone well, some of it hasn’t.” The record agrees. An upset of then-No. 4 Ole Miss. Back-to-back losses to Missouri and South Carolina. Then a 27-24 win at Texas that lifted the Gators to No. 17. One week they look like world-beaters, the next week they’re beating themselves. That’s a year-one team. The Quarterback Shell Game Then came the question everybody really came for: Aaron Philo or Tramell Jones Jr.? Sumrall answered it the way a politician answers a question about taxes. “Both guys are available. Believe in both guys,” he said. “Not going to name a starter today… We need both those guys to be ready to play.” He’ll decide “middleish of the week,” probably Wednesday. And don’t wait by the fax machine. “There’s not going to be a big QB1 announcement for this game or any game,” he said. Why all the secrecy? Start with health. Philo, the Georgia Tech transfer who started the first six games, is coming back from the shoulder injury that sidelined him at Texas. Jones, who won his first career start in Austin, came out of it with “wear-and-tear” injuries. Both practiced Monday, and Sumrall says how they hold up “matters.” But let’s not be naive. Making Georgia prepare for two quarterbacks costs Florida nothing but a little sleep. Philo is the polished passer: 70.5 percent completions, nine touchdowns, three picks. Jones is the sophomore who hit a fourth-and-12 throw and ran for the game-sealing first down at Texas. Kirby is already treating it as a two-man problem. “One beat Ole Miss handedly and one beat Texas on the road,” Smart said, adding that Buster Faulkner “can play to the strengths of each guy.” That’s exactly what Sumrall wants. Let Georgia’s defensive staff stay up late watching two guys. And there’s a little extra seasoning: Philo, the former Prince Avenue Christian star, holds Georgia’s high school passing record. Imagine the home-state kid beating the Dawgs in their own capital city. TV TV TV TV TV Watch: Sumrall on Florida’s quarterback decision — Monday’s press conference, via Gator Bait Media. Get Your Filthy Hands Off It And now a word from our sponsor. Or rather, a word against them. This year’s game has an official name, Gawd help us: the Invesco QQQ Atlanta Gridiron Classic. That’s how it reads on the stadium’s event page and the ticket listings. It sounds like an index fund that sponsors a charity 10K. Somewhere a marketing VP got a bonus for that, and somewhere Bill Kastelz, the Times-Union sports editor who coined the Cocktail Party name, is spinning like a rotisserie chicken. We know what this game is. It’s Florida-Georgia. Or Georgia-Florida, depending on the year and your bloodline. It was the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party until the college presidents got squeamish, and every fan with a cooler kept calling it that anyway. It has belonged to Jacksonville nearly every year since 1933, and it’ll go back there in 2028. Corporate America’s attempt to gussy it up may muddy the fender a little. It won’t wreck the car. Florida-Georgia is stronger than all this corporate filth that passes for branding, or rebranding. So please, please, please. Get your filthy hands off of it. The Verdict Sumrall doesn’t sound like a coach making excuses. He sounds like one who has studied the opponent closely and is honest about how far Florida has to go. In this business, honesty is rarer than a Georgia fan who doesn’t bring up the scoreboard. Georgia is coming off a home loss to Auburn, which should make the Dawgs about as cheerful as a wet cat. The tickets are split down the middle on paper, but in Atlanta the crowd may turn out more like 60-40, Bulldogs. Call it a semi-home game with a neutral-site invoice. The Bulldogs are still the Bulldogs, built layer by layer over a decade. Sumrall has one year of layers. On Saturday, we find out if that’s enough, or if Florida’s going to get the Ray Charles treatment again: Georgia on its mind, all the way home.

Illustration: GatorBait Media (AI-assisted). A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning: That the Georgia Bulldogs are favored to beat the Florida Gators when the rivalry takes the first of a two-year vacation from its traditional home in Jacksonville is no surprise. The Bulldogs (6-1, 4-1 SEC) should be favored. They are ranked third in the latest Associated Press poll and have spent the year being touted as one of a handful of teams capable of running the College Football Playoff table to a national championship. Georgia's lone loss to Auburn is being dismissed as nothing more than a speed bump. Obviously, the people who set the point spreads in Las Vegas share that belief, otherwise why else would they establish the Bulldogs as 10.5-point favorites to overwhelm 17th-ranked Florida (5-2, 3-2 SEC) Saturday (3:30 p.m., ABC) at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium? It is a familiar narrative for Florida. Just a couple of weeks ago, the Gators opened the week as 10.5-point road underdogs to Texas. The spread swelled to 11.5 points by gametime in Austin. No way a Florida team that fell victim to spinning toe holds, atomic elbow drops and at least one reverse vertical suplex in consecutive losses to Missouri and South Carolina could hang with the mighty Longhorns, right? Well, a funny thing happened on the way to the sleeper hold that was waiting in Austin. The Gators woke up, rose from the mat, and sprung a 27-24 upset over then No. 7 Texas, which a week before had been the No. 1 team in the nation. Something similar happened in Athens on the same day. Auburn was a 19.5-point underdog to then No. 1 Georgia but that same team Florida beat with a stunning offensive show of force back in September, leapt off the ring ropes to body slam Georgia's undefeated season dreams, ironically by a 27-24 score. Georgia, the team that overwhelmed opponents by playing mistake-free football, couldn't stop Auburn's Byrum Brown from running over, under, around and through their vaunted defense and Gunner Stockton completed two passes to the Auburn defense and fumbled away the Bulldogs' chances to win the game. So, here we are two weeks later from those rather unexpected developments, and the Gators are (a) once again 10.5-point underdogs to a higher-ranked team being touted as true national championship contenders; (b) considered incapable of matching the size and strength they'll see on both lines of scrimmage; and (c) uncertain if Tramell Jones Jr. will be making his second collegiate start at quarterback or if Aaron Philo's wounded shoulder has healed well enough to play. As Yogi Berra would say, "it's like déjà vu all over again," because those same points that made the idea of a win in Austin seem so improbable are the same ones being used to tout Georgia this week. Can it happen again? Can the Florida Gators defy the odds and the hype to take down yet a third top ten opponent in the same season? It doesn't seem quite as impossible today as it seemed the Monday before Florida's win in Austin or Auburn's win over Georgia in Athens. So ignore the pro-Georgia hype and remember the words of Dusty Rhodes: "I am the man of the hour, the man with the power. I am the hit-maker, the record-breaker. I got style and grace and a pretty face. I'll make your back crack and your liver quiver!" You gotta believe. Associated Press top 25 (SEC teams bold face): 1. Miami 7-0; 2. Ohio State 6-1; 3. Georgia 6-1; 4. Indiana 7-1; 5. Notre Dame 6-1; 6. Utah 7-0; 7. UCLA 7-0; 8. BYU 6-1; 9. Kentucky 7-1; 10. Alabama 6-2; 11. Texas 5-2; 12. Ole Miss 5-2; 13. Texas Tech 6-1; 14. Wake Forest 6-1; 15. LSU 6-2; 16. Tennessee 6-2; 17. FLORIDA 5-2; 18. Houston 6-2; 19. SMU 6-1; 20. (TIE) Boise State 6-1; Northwestern 6-1; 22. Arizona 6-1; 23. Missouri 5-2; 24. Oklahoma State 5-2; 25. Wisconsin 5-2 AFCA Coaches top 25: 1. Miami 7-0; 2. Ohio State 6-1; 3. Georgia 6-1; 4. Indiana 7-1; 5. Utah 7-0; 6. Notre Dame 6-1; 7. UCLA 7-0; 8. Kentucky 7-1; 9. BYU 6-1; 10. Alabama 6-2; 11. Texas 5-2; 12. Ole Miss 5-2; 13. LSU 6-2; 14. Texas Tech 6-1; 15. Wake Forest 6-1; 16. SMU 6-1; 17. Tennessee 6-2; 18. Northwestern 6-1; 19. Houston 6-2; 20. FLORIDA 5-2; 21. Arizona 6-1; 22. Boise State 6-1; 23. Missouri 5-2; 24. Iowa 6-2; 25. Southern Cal 6-2 COUNTDOWN TO FIRING DAY: OCTOBER 26, 2026 EDITION EXTINCT SPECIES LIST Dave Aranda, Baylor: Baylor canned Aranda after a 25-24 loss to Kansas. The Bears are 4-3 with a schedule that has 6-6 written all over it. The Bears were 2-3 in games started by DJ Lagway, 2-0 in games started by Nate Bennett. Defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman is the interim head coach. Names you are likely to hear in the head coach search are Jeff Traylor (UT-San Antonio), GJ Kinne (Texas State), Zach Kittley (Florida Atlantic) and Minnesota Vikings QB coach Josh McCown. Dave Doeren, North Carolina State: After 13+ years without a championship, Doeren was fired with a 3-4 record this year, 98-73 for his tenure at NCSU. He took the Wolfpack to 11 bowl games, but had just two second place division finishes. Running backs/special teams coordinator Todd Goebel is the interim head coach. The alumni favorite to replace Doeren is former Wolfpack QB Philip Rivers, who played 18 NFL seasons. Other names already being mentioned are James Madison coach Billy Napier, New Mexico coach Jason Eck, Indiana defensive coordinator Bryant Haines and Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson. Mike Locksley, Maryland: Among the names associated with the early coaching search at Maryland are Wake Forest coach Jake Dickert, New Mexico coach Jason Eck, UNLV coach Dan Mullen, Memphis coach Charles Huff Jr. and James Madison coach Billy Napier. ON LIFE SUPPORT Mike Norvell, Florida State: There is bad news and there is more bad news for Florida State. Another losing season and they think they'll find the money to buy out his contract. That's the bad news. The even worse news is if he wins, he stays another year. Nobody likes the choices. Clemson comes to Tallahassee this weekend. Greg Schiano, Rutgers: It's not a question of if he gets pink slipped but simply a matter of when. The Scarlet Knights are 2-5, going nowhere and recruiting is dead end. Deion Sanders, Colorado: The Buffs are 2-5, 0-4 in the Big 12. The Prime Time luster has worn off and he might not make it past Saturday if the Buffs take a hosing from Kansas State. Joe Moorhead, Akron: The Zips are 1-7 this year and things will not get better. Moorhead works cheap but there comes a time to cut ties and now is the time. ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST Steve Sarkisian, Texas: Amazing what an unexpected win will do for you. Sark was On Life Support but drops down to Endangered thanks to the win over Ole Miss. The Texas AD will probably demand a new offensive coordinator and for Sark to relinquish play calling duties. Brent Venables, Oklahoma: Okay, the Sooners beat Mississippi State in Starkville. The offense still stunk but the defense played well, as always. He's probably safe for another year as long as he agrees to get rid of offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle. Kalen DeBoer, Alabama: He has to run the table to finish 10-2 in the regular season before he's off the hook. Every regular season game from here on out is a College Football Playoff elimination game. Tony Elliott, Virginia: He will survive this season no matter what, but he's 26-29, now in his sixth season at UVa with only one winning season to show for it. Jedd Fisch, Washington: His career record is 36-36, 19-19 at Washington. The Huskies are 4-3 with a schedule that has a 7-5 feel to it. If the Huskies go belly up the rest of the way, all bets are off. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Someone named Annette DeBella is credited for coining the phrase "karma's a bitch" during a Philadelphia News interview back in 1992. At the time she said it, Annette DeBella and husband John DeBella were divorcing and engaged in a very public feud in which the insults were flying. Divorce too often has this habit of bringing out the narcissistic worst in the afflicted parties. It's all about playing the role of the victim, therefore the sad state of affairs is always the fault of the other person. Shortly after Jon Sumrall became Florida's football coach there was a divorce that since turned rather nasty. Rather than go through the indignity of actually competing for the starting quarterback role, former 5-star and national high school player of the year DJ Lagway went into the portal and transferred to Baylor. Once in Waco, DJ started pointing fingers of blame at Florida where the adults let him down. Florida's 4-8 record in 2025, those 14 interceptions, the countless open receivers either ignored or overthrown and the bad decisions that caused the Gators to lose football games couldn't have possibly been his fault, right? It wasn't his fault that his inconsistent play had a lot to do with Billy Napier getting fired, right? The same issues that were a problem at Florida followed Lagway to Baylor. The bad mechanics that caused him so many misfires at Florida were never coached out of him at Baylor where he threw interceptions, missed or ignored open receivers and made so many bad decisions. Rather than the 7-0 record that could have been, Baylor is 4-3 and looking for a new head coach. Careful analysis of the three losses points 10 fingers of blame at Lagway who completed 69-138 passes for 825 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions. A sign of things to come was his botched throw that should have been an easy game-winning touchdown against Auburn in game one. In all fairness, Lagway's 12-12 record as a starting quarterback over three seasons at Florida and Baylor isn't totally his fault. It is a team game after all and teammates have to pick up the slack even when the quarterback's passes can't find the ocean from the end of the pier. Still, this is two straight coaches who pinned their job security on DJ Lagway and both of them have been fired. If whoever is hired as Baylor's new coach decides a divorce is necessary, you have to wonder if (a) there is a school in a power conference willing to take a chance on Lagway; and (b) if he goes somewhere else will Lagway bite his tongue or blame everyone else for his own failures?

Before we get going this week, I need a minute for a friend. Because our lives are a little bit poorer. David Moulton died Saturday night. He was 59. For six years he fought stage four kidney cancer, and he never stopped fighting. He kept trying new treatments and kept showing up for work, until two months ago, when he finally had to tell his listeners he needed to step away. David was my longtime friend. He was an outstanding broadcaster and the consummate journalist. And something that doesn’t always go with the first two: he was a really good person. We did a lot of shows together over the years, and I never once saw him show up unprepared. He was a walking reservoir of sports information. Names, games, scores, the play nobody else remembered. His partner of 20 years, Mark Miller, called him “a sports encyclopedia,” and Mark wasn’t exaggerating. What I respected most was how hard he worked at being fair. On the air, and in the columns he wrote for the Fort Myers News-Press and Naples Daily News, David never took the cheap shot. He wanted to get it right before he got it loud. In this business, that’s rarer than it ought to be. The big names trusted him, too. Gary Danielson and Verne Lundquist at CBS relied on David, and that kind of trust only comes from years of being right when it counts. He did the same for Troy Aikman and Joe Buck on the NFL. When the camera was on the guys in the booth, David was the reason they sounded so sure. He was also the voice of FGCU, and every morning he was half of Miller and Moulton. One thing I’ll always remember is that on our pro-Florida Gator podcasts in which he often was a guest, he would keep me honest when I got over my skis and began to see too many things in orange and blue — nothing critical but maybe a soft body check. The press box just won’t be the same without him. Our thoughts are with his wife, Julie, and his daughter, Melissa. Rest easy, David. Nobody will ever be able to take your place. Editorial illustration: GatorBait Media, based on a portrait supplied by Buddy Martin.

GAINESVILLE — No. 5 Florida used two decisive runs to brush aside Ole Miss on Sunday, completing a weekend without dropping a set and pushing its winning streak to four matches. The Gators won 25-21, 25-15, 25-18 at the O'Connell Center, improving to 17-2 overall and 8-1 in the conference. They also swept LSU on Friday. Ole Miss briefly found an opening in the second set, moving ahead 10-9. Florida answered with six consecutive points. Florida turned the one-point deficit into a five-point lead, then held the Rebels to 15 for the set. Kamryn Chaney led Florida with 13 kills, and Alec Rothe added 11 while hitting .588. Rothe also had four blocks, giving the Gators a presence at the net to go with their finishing power. Taylor Parks supplied 35 assists as Florida hit .393, compared with .128 for Ole Miss. The Gators finished with 45 kills and 12 attack errors; the Rebels had 30 kills and 18 errors. Those margins mattered again in the third set. Ole Miss led 8-6 before Florida put together a 9-1 run, taking a 15-9 advantage and leaving the visitors chasing another substantial gap. The Rebels later pulled within 21-18, but Florida won the final four points. Lily Hayes led the Gators with nine digs, while Jaidyn Hartsfield's nine kills paced Ole Miss, which fell to 8-12 and 2-7 in SEC play. Florida's four-match run has taken it through road wins at Texas A&M and Texas, followed by the two home sweeps. Both Texas opponents were ranked when Florida beat them. The Gators will have to keep that form traveling as their schedule shifts away from Gainesville again. Florida visits Auburn on Friday, Oct. 30, at 7 p.m. ET in Neville Arena. The Gators return to the O'Connell Center to face Arkansas on Sunday, Nov. 1. Alec Rothe attacks against Ole Miss at the O'Connell Center on Oct. 25, 2026. Photo by Senay Kennon/UAA Communications. Get free GatorBait email updates. Sign up voluntarily and confirm your email to receive GatorBait news. You can unsubscribe anytime. Reporting based on Florida Athletics' final box score and match report, Ole Miss Athletics and the official Florida and Auburn schedules.

Florida junior Skye Blakely left the World Gymnastics Championships with four medals Sunday, the largest haul in the women's competition and a world all-around title earned two years after an Achilles injury ended her bid for the Paris Olympics. Blakely closed her meet at Rotterdam Ahoy in the Netherlands with a 13.633 on balance beam, good for sixth place. Her medal collection was already complete: all-around gold, team silver and bronze on vault and uneven bars. The all-around title came Friday, when Blakely scored 55.733 in her first appearance in that world final. She entered as the second-highest qualifier, then put together four routines to finish ahead of Russia's Liudmila Roshchina and China's Qinqin Ke. According to Florida, Blakely became the first gymnast to compete in the NCAA and win a world all-around championship in the same calendar year. Former Gator Leanne Wong won world all-around silver in 2025, also in a year when she competed collegiately. Blakely followed her gold with two podium finishes Saturday. She scored 14.166 on vault and 14.600 on uneven bars to take bronze in each event, giving her three individual medals over two days. Her first medal of the meet came Wednesday, when the U.S. women's team earned silver with 165.531 points. China won gold at 165.764, a margin of 0.233. The Americans also secured a team berth at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics; individual Olympic team selections are still to come. The results followed Blakely's recovery from a right Achilles tendon injury suffered during podium training at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials. She made her collegiate debut on uneven bars in Florida's Jan. 10, 2025, season opener and returned to Worlds later that year, placing fourth on bars. USA Gymnastics reported that Blakely hit all 14 of her routines in Rotterdam. Sunday's beam final brought her second appearance in that event's world final, after a fifth-place finish in 2022. Blakely arrived in the Netherlands with two career world medals, both team golds from 2022 and 2023. She leaves with six, and for the first time, an individual world title. Skye Blakely is introduced before the uneven bars final at the 2026 World Championships. Photo: USA Gymnastics. Get free GatorBait email updates. Sign up voluntarily and confirm your email to receive GatorBait news. You can unsubscribe anytime. Reporting based on Florida Athletics and USA Gymnastics releases, Oct. 21-25, 2026.

Florida and Georgia return from open dates Saturday, Oct. 31, with their annual rivalry moving to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC, giving Gators fans a week to follow the quarterback story and plan for a different game-day destination. Florida is 5-2 overall and 3-2 in the SEC. Georgia is 6-1 and 4-1. Both last played Oct. 17: Florida won 27-24 at Texas, while Kirby Smart's Bulldogs lost 27-24 at home to Auburn. Monday's first public stop is Gator Talk. Florida coach Jon Sumrall joins broadcaster Sean Kelley from 7-8 p.m. at The Swamp Restaurant, 1104 SW Second Ave. in Gainesville. Fans can attend or listen through Gator Sports Network affiliates, the Florida Gators app or the Varsity Network app. Tramell Jones Jr. supplies the backdrop for this week's quarterback coverage. In his first college start at Texas, Jones completed 22 of 35 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 41 yards. UF's Oct. 21 account said Jones started after Aaron Philo was sidelined by a shoulder injury. "I'm proud of him for staying resilient," Sumrall said after the Texas win. UF's Oct. 21 feature described Florida's quarterback outlook as unsettled entering the bye week. It did not name a starter for Georgia. The Texas performance gives Jones a full game of starting experience to build on. For the broader injury and scheduling discussion, Buddy Martin examines the physical toll of the SEC's nine-game schedule in his latest column. The scene shifts to International Plaza in Atlanta on Friday, Oct. 30. The Paul Finebaum Show is scheduled there from 3-7 p.m. ET, according to UF's game-week programming announcement. On Saturday, SEC Nation runs from 9 a.m. to noon ET on SEC Network from the same location. Former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow is part of the show's lineup. Marty & McGee follows live from International Plaza from noon to 12:45 p.m. The game is in Atlanta while Jacksonville's EverBank Stadium undergoes construction. Georgia is the designated home team. Fans traveling to the game should use the stadium's current event guide for parking and bag policies. The venue lists gates opening at 2 p.m., 90 minutes before kickoff. Get free GatorBait email updates. Sign up voluntarily and confirm your email to receive GatorBait Magazine and Florida Gators news. You can unsubscribe anytime. File photo: Jon Sumrall celebrates with Florida players in the locker room after the Oct. 17 win at Texas. Photo courtesy UAA and Hannah White. Schedule, records and programming from FloridaGators.com and Georgia Athletics; venue information from Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the City of Jacksonville.