Georgia seniors seeking sweep of Gators

photo Georgia senior center David Andrews never lost to Florida when Aaron Murray was the quarterback, and he's hoping Hutson Mason can finish off a four-year sweep.

ATHENS, Ga. - They are among Georgia's best football players of the past quarter century.

Quarterback Eric Zeier. Tailback Garrison Hearst. Offensive tackles Bernard Williams and Jon Stinchcomb. Linebackers Boss Bailey and Justin Houston. Safety Sean Jones.

Each was an All-American, and each was selected within the first three rounds of the NFL draft. They had something else in common as well: None of the above ever played in a victory over Florida.

It wasn't long ago when a Georgia player was fortunate to defeat the Gators once in his career, but the current Bulldogs will carry a three-game series winning streak into Saturday's showdown in Jacksonville. This is Georgia's longest stretch of success in the border rivalry since the Bulldogs won six straight from 1978 to '83, with tailback Herschel Walker leading the way in half of those triumphs.

"I came home from a little league game in 2002 and remember sitting in my basement watching this game," Bulldogs senior center David Andrews said this week. "We ended up losing, and I cried. I was really upset, so this game has always meant something to me."

In the 14 meetings beginning in 1990, when Steve Spurrier started his magnificent 12-year run coaching the Gators, through 2003, Georgia beat Florida once. The exception was in 1997 under former Bulldogs coach Jim Donnan, who still refers to that triumph as the biggest of his five-year Georgia tenure.

Current Georgia coach Mark Richt led the Bulldogs to a 13-1 record and their first Southeastern Conference championship in 20 years during his second season in 2002, but the lone blemish was a 20-13 setback to the Gators. The Bulldogs won a second consecutive SEC East title in '03 despite a 16-13 loss to Florida and won a second overall league crown in '05 despite a 14-10 loss to Florida.

"As a little kid and being a Georgia fan, it was always tough seeing us get beat by a field goal or something like that," right tackle Kolton Houston said.

The Bulldogs have won five of the past nine meetings in the series and have turned the table on close calls, winning the past three meetings by scores of 24-20, 17-9 and 23-20. There also has been a little more at stake recently for Georgia, which is 6-1 overall and in the driver's seat for its third East title in four years.

Florida, meanwhile, is 3-3 and fighting off the distraction of fourth-year coach Will Muschamp potentially entering his final month on the job.

"When I was here as a freshman, we had lost to them I don't know how many years, but it was a lot," Bulldogs quarterback Hutson Mason said. "You definitely know what they're feeling right now, because I can remember when we were in their shoes. We were going 3-3 and they were doing really well and winning the East, and we wanted to spoil their season.

"I guarantee you they are thinking the same thing about us."

Mason and Houston are among just a handful of 2010 signees who remain in the program. That was the last year in which the Bulldogs lost to Florida, with the heralded "Dream Team" crop of 2011 and Georgia's ensuing classes having never experienced defeat.

Georgia's 1983 class is the most recent in program history to go through this rivalry unscathed.

"It would be great to do something a lot of teams in general don't do against Florida," senior inside linebacker Amarlo Herrera said. "We have bigger goals that this, but to accomplish those goals we have to win this week."

Said Andrews: "We came in as a tight class. We've lost some people, but the guys we have are really close. To say that we've swept Florida would mean a lot."

Richt said this week that the seniors may be motivated by a career sweep of Florida but that he hasn't mentioned it. He has handled questions regarding the recent shift in this rivalry as cautiously as the various queries he has fielded regarding suspended tailback Todd Gurley.

Yet the players have been very open in their quest, a quest that seemed unfathomable not that long ago.

"Beating Florida will never get old," senior receiver Michael Bennett said. "Not a lot of Bulldogs can say they've gone undefeated against Florida, Tennessee and hopefully (Georgia) Tech, too."

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.

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