Huddle up! Here’s a look back at this weekend on the gridiron, with three key takeaways from the state’s football scene -- and a glimpse at what’s to come next week.
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Gators try to knock off No. 1
The annual game in Jacksonville between Georgia and Florida has arrived, and even though Florida is not ranked, there is all of a sudden a lot of reason for optimism going up against top-ranked and two-time defending national champion Georgia.
The Gators (5-2, 3-1 SEC East) enter with some confidence after winning a road game at South Carolina, and more importantly, it will go up against a Georgia team that’s missing one of the top players in the country.
Georgia tight end Brock Bowers, maybe the heartbeat of the offense for the Bulldogs and a surefire first-round NFL draft pick, might be out for the season with an ankle injury suffered in Georgia’s last game at Vanderbilt.
Florida is the first team that gets a crack at Georgia without Bowers, and a victory over the Bulldogs would go a long way into silencing doubters that are already questioning head coach Billy Napier.
Georgia has won five of the last six meetings in the rivalry.
Dolphins offense fails test against Eagles
Going into Sunday night’s game at Philadelphia, the Dolphins had scored at least 30 points in four of their first six games (including the infamous 70 points against Denver in Week 2), but had largely feasted on bad defenses.
The Chargers, Broncos, Giants, Panthers and Patriots all have scoring defenses that are among the top-10 worst in the NFL, and Miami beat all of them.
It was a little stiffer test going up against Philadelphia, and the Dolphins failed considerably.
Miami could only muster 10 points offensively (another touchdown was on an interception return) and 244 yards of total offense in a 31-17 loss to the Eagles.
As far as measuring sticks go, it showed the Dolphins still have plenty of room for improvement if they want to succeed in the colder weather environments they’ll likely face if they make the playoffs.
Orlando-area prep powers set for showdown
Week 10 of the high school football season will produce a matchup of two of the state’s best when Lake Mary travels to Seminole.
Lake Mary (8-0) is ranked No. 8 in the FHSAA’s overall rankings, while Seminole (7-2) is ranked No. 17.
The 4M District 2 showdown will kick off at 7 p.m. Friday.