Joe Cox

ATHENS, Ga. -- The Florida Gators have the superior offense and defense compared to Georgia entering Saturday's annual football showdown in Jacksonville.

They will not be as fresh.

While the Gators were winning 29-19 last Saturday night at Mississippi State and spending Sunday's early hours on the flight home, Georgia players were enjoying an open date. The Bulldogs had a bye week two years ago before the Florida game and pulled off a 42-30 upset, one of just three Georgia wins in the series since 1990.

"I think everybody feels fresh, and that's what the off week is for," Bulldogs quarterback Joe Cox said. "We did a lot of things we needed to do last week, and then we got Friday and Saturday off, which was really just a chance to rest your mind. They took care of us last week as far as our legs and really gave us a chance to get our legs back underneath us."

The Bulldogs were the only Southeastern Conference team with last weekend off, and the two league teams that were open the previous week returned with strong performances. LSU came back from its bye to rout Auburn 31-10 in Baton Rouge last Saturday, while Tennessee almost knocked off top-ranked Alabama in Tuscaloosa before falling 12-10.

Florida had the most beneficial off week earlier this month when quarterback Tim Tebow was able to get extra time to recover from a concussion.

"College football is about improvement, and it's about playing better against your best opponents," LSU coach Les Miles said. "I think our guys took those days and worked on very specific things within the game that makes us better. I think the open date is a tremendous piece to health, and I'd be an advocate for an opportunity of another one."

Open dates have become increasingly important since the NCAA implemented permanent 12-game schedules at the Bowl Subdivision level before the 2006 season. Last year's season contained 14 Saturdays in which to play the 12 games, but this season and the 2010-12 seasons contain 13.

Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin had the benefit of three open dates earlier this decade when he was a Southern Cal assistant, because the Trojans moved their regular-season finale with UCLA back to the first Saturday of December.

"It's always good to have byes, because you get people healthy, and it allows you to recruit more from my standpoint," Kiffin said. "When we had our bye, I was out every day. I think I was on 13 airplanes that week and a couple of helicopters. We will always take full advantage of it from a recruiting sense as well as preparation."

Georgia coach Mark Richt just hopes it results in a second win over Florida in three years.

The Bulldogs were able to get starting fullback Shaun Chapas and backup linebackers Akeem Dent and Marcus Dowtin healthy during the open date, and they will need as many bodies as possible. The Weather Channel is predicting sunny skies and a high of 87 degrees, which would be Georgia's hottest game all season.

It was a surprisingly mild 81 degrees in the opener at Oklahoma State, and it was only 45 degrees the last time the Bulldogs took the field at Vanderbilt.

"I think we're definitely going to have a lot of subs, but I'm just glad the weather is going to be good," Cox said. "We've had a lot of crazy weather situations this year."

Said linebacker Rennie Curran: "It may take some getting used to, but at the same time it's the Florida game."

Georgia has been dominant against SEC opposition when coming off an open date. The Bulldogs are 7-1 in such games since the start of the 2002 season, with the only loss being the 31-30 thriller against Auburn in '05.

Included in that run are double-digit wins over Alabama and Auburn in 2003, LSU in '04, Tennessee in '05, Florida in '07 and Tennessee last year.

"We used to have two open dates before we played 12, so now everybody's getting a stretch in there where they're playing an awful lot of games in a row," Richt said. "It's always nice to have a break, no doubt about it, and you always hope you can turn it into a positive for your football team, but there is just no guarantee to that."