ATHENS, Ga. -- There are aspects of college football that have evolved, such as the bowl coalition getting supplanted by the bowl alliance and now the Bowl Championship Series.

Then there are constants.

Penn State's uniforms. The marching bands at Tennessee and Ohio State. And the Georgia-Florida game in Jacksonville.

"I love this game," Bulldogs linebacker Rennie Curran said. "As a recruit, it's a game you look forward to and one you want to play in with national TV and all those great athletes. They have guys who were ranked No. 1 coming out of high school and will probably be first-round draft picks, and there is no bigger stage."

The Bulldogs and Gators have competed annually in Jacksonville since the formation of the Southeastern Conference in 1933, with the exception of 1994-95, when the games were held on campus. That was the result of the Gator Bowl being transformed to Alltel Stadium to house the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars.

Each school receives about 41,000 tickets, which assures notable decibel levels on every play.

"When we've got the ball, we know Florida is making all the noise they can," Georgia coach Mark Richt said. "When Florida has the ball, we know Georgia fans are making as much noise as they can. What's different about it is the constant volume of noise throughout the whole ballgame. There is really no quiet time, except on a punt or commercial breaks."

Georgia leads the series 47-38-2 according to its records, but the Bulldogs were doubling the Gators 44-22-2 after taking eight of 10 during the 1980s. Then Steve Spurrier was hired as Florida coach and helped reverse the rivalry, as the Gators have won 16 of 19 entering Saturday's showdown.

Being on the losing end recently has left Richt and some Georgia fans questioning the neutrality of Jacksonville, but the schools have agreed in principle to a six-year extension that will run through 2016. The city of Jacksonville estimates the game has an annual economic impact of $25-30 million.

"I wouldn't say that this is a neutral site for both sides just because of the distance difference," Georgia safety and Jacksonville resident Bryan Evans said, "but I think the atmosphere for the game is very big in Jacksonville. It's been there forever, so it's all I really know."

Said quarterback Joe Cox: "There are people who say this game needs to come to Atlanta some time, but it doesn't matter, because wherever you are there is going to be a 50-50 crowd. I think that's the best part about the game."

The Bulldogs (4-3, 3-2) will hold their final practice for the top-ranked Gators (7-0, 5-0) this afternoon at Sanford Stadium, where crowd noise will be provided.

"This game won't be as loud as Tennessee, where you have almost 100,000 Tennessee fans yelling when you're on the field," Cox said. "It will be loud, though, so you approach it as another away game."

A Strong defense

Florida has won two of the past three national titles and owns the nation's No. 1 defense, but Gators coach Urban Meyer wasn't praised in 2005 when he retained defensive coordinator Charlie Strong from Ron Zook's staff.

"Believe it or not, I got hammered when I hired him," Meyer said. "I got e-mails and phone calls and letters saying, 'What are you doing? Our defense is not very good.'"

Meyer did some research on Strong but not a ton, because the two were on Notre Dame's staff from 1996 to '98 and lived several houses away.

Odds and ends

Bulldogs offensive coordinator Mike Bobo will work from the sideline again Saturday. ... Georgia's Vince Vance was arrested Wednesday morning by campus police for failure to obey a traffic signal and not having a proper license, but Richt said the senior tackle will play Saturday. ... Richt said he's "highly frustrated" with the number of incidents involving suspended or restricted licenses. ... Richt does not know who will start at tailback.