Florida vs. Georgia in the College Football Playoff? One Expert Predicts It

On Sunday, On3 | Rivals personality Josh Pate, host of Josh Pate’s College Football Show, laid out his College Football Playoff predictions.

Pate had some bold projections, but none bigger than the Florida Gators hosting a home playoff game against rival Georgia in the first round as the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds, respectively.

Cocktail party in the Swamp. City might burn down, but sign me up https://t.co/LYDvXyNdSR

— Hunter DeLauder (@DelauderHunter) August 18, 2025

The matchup would, in all likelihood, be the biggest home game ever at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium given the stakes and opponent. Separated by just five and a half hours up I-75 North, the Gators and Bulldogs have been knocking heads since 1904, with Georgia leading the all-time series 57-44-2.

Jacksonville has hosted the Georgia-Florida game, also known as “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party,” since 1933. There was a brief hiatus when the rivalry went to a home-and-home series in 1994 and 1995. Florida beat the Bulldogs as hosts in 1994, 52-14, and then won 52-17 in Athens in 1995. The Gators became the only team to score at least 50 points against Georgia in Sanford Stadium.

Renovations at Jacksonville’s EverBank Stadium will move the rivalry to new venues in 2026 and 2027, with next year’s game slated at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the 2027 game scheduled at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

Despite falling 34-20 last season, making that the seventh loss in eight years against Georgia, Florida had the Bulldogs in a one-score game late in the fourth quarter before an Aidan Warner interception doomed the Gators. The final result only increases the anticipation for this year’s 104th meeting, as both teams are as close to each other talent-wise as they have ever been.

Looking back at Pate’s prediction, a playoff matchup would mean an SEC rematch, which allows the loser of the Nov. 1 contest to rewrite its wrongs by ending its biggest rival’s season. However, the committee typically does not stack teams up to rematch each other in the first round. The only rematch to happen in the playoff era was in 2021, when Georgia and Alabama faced off in the SEC Championship game, then again 37 days later in the national championship game.

Even with another tough schedule in 2025, Florida coach Billy Napier believes this team can reach the playoffs. They just need to go out and prove it to the world.

“We absolutely have aspirations to be a playoff team. That’s the intention of coming here, to win championships,” Napier said. “Now, what do we know about that? It’s about the work we do. It’s about today. … It’s not about yesterday or tomorrow. It’s about today. A good today leads to a good week, leads to a good month, leads to a good season, and you look up and count them up at the end of the year.”

Category: College Football, Gator Sports, Gators Football, SEC