GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- It’s Florida-Georgia week, which means it’s time to take a look back at the annual series between the two Southeastern Conference rivals.
Each day this week, GatorNation will have a top five list that captures the colorful history of the series.
Today’s list:
Top 5 heartbreaking moments in series history for Georgia:
2002: Florida 20, Georgia 13
No. 5 Georgia was unbeaten. Florida was unranked and lost its best receiver to a knee injury on the first series. Easy victory for the Bulldogs? Nope. Backup WRs Kelvin Kight (nine catches, 115 yards) and Carlos Perez (12 catches, 115 yards) responded with career days while UF’s defense kept Georgia from converting a single third down (0 for 13). Georgia WR Terrance Edwards also dropped a potential touchdown pass with less than three minutes to play.
The heartbreak: That loss is what kept Georgia from playing for a national title. The Bulldogs finished 13-1.
1993: Florida 33, Georgia 26
On a muddy, rain-soaked field, Georgia QB Eric Zeier threw an apparent game-winning 12-yard touchdown pass to WR Jerry Jerman in the final seconds. Except it didn’t count because officials ruled that UF freshman CB Anthone Lott signaled time out just before the snap. Lott was penalized for face guarding on the ensuing play, and Zeier got one more chance to win the game. His final pass bounced off the hands of WR Jeff Thomas.
2003: Florida 16, Georgia 13
The fourth-ranked Bulldogs were very much in the national title race until a Saturday afternoon in Jacksonville. Georgia ran for 202 yards and held unranked Florida to 1-for-12 on third down, but the Gators sacked QB David Greene four times and intercepted him twice. QB Chris Leak drove the Gators from their 17 to the Georgia 15, where Matt Leach kicked a game-winning field goal with 33 seconds remaining.
1995: Florida 52, Georgia 17
Why is this a heartbreaking loss? The game was being played in Athens, Ga., because of renovations to the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., which is significant because UF coach Steve Spurrier found out that no team had ever scored 50 points on the Bulldogs in their home stadium. That’s why he scored a TD with 1:10 remaining in the fourth quarter. "We wanted to score 50 because it had never been done," Spurrier said after the game. "Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?"
2008: Florida 49, Georgia 10
Florida coach Urban Meyer delivered payback for the Gator Stomp – Georgia’s end-zone celebration after Knowshon Moreno’s first-quarter TD run -- the year before by calling two timeouts with less than a minute remaining to prolong the Bulldogs’ misery.