ATLANTA — The Florida Gators football team will play the Georgia Bulldogs on October 31, 2026, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. This marks the first time the rivalry game has been played in Atlanta due to renovations at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville.

The contest is scheduled to kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on ABC with Chris Fowler serving as the play-by-play announcer, Kirk Herbstreit as the analyst, and Holly Rowe as the reporter. The game is billed as the Invesco QQQ Atlanta Gridiron Classic.

The No. 17 Gators enter the matchup with a 5-2 overall record and a 3-2 SEC record, while the No. 3 Bulldogs hold a 6-1 overall record and a 4-1 SEC mark. Florida head coach Jon Sumrall stated he would not name Aaron Philo or Tramell Jones Jr. as the starting quarterback until later in the week.

Philo is recovering from a shoulder injury, while Jones Jr. made his first career start in a 27-24 victory over Texas. Running back Jadan Baugh, who grew up in the Atlanta metro area and attended Decatur Columbia High School, rushed for 91 yards and one touchdown in that win.

Baugh has recorded 763 yards on 135 carries with 13 touchdowns in 2026, and Florida holds a 9-0 record when he rushes for 100 yards or more. Georgia head coach Kirby Smart noted Baugh was a recruit who "got away" from the Bulldogs.

Georgia starting quarterback Gunner Stockton ranks second in NCAA passing efficiency with a 185.9 rating and has completed 74.1 percent of his passes. Stockton has passed for 1,570 yards, 16 touchdowns, and four interceptions while rushing for 160 yards on 35 carries this season.

The Bulldogs defense ranks 10th nationally against the run, allowing 91.4 yards per game, and has recorded 22 sacks for 148 yards in 2026. Defensive linemen Jordan Hall, Gabe Harris Jr., and Elijah Griffin anchor the unit.

Georgia lost its most recent game to Auburn 27-24 but has not lost back-to-back regular-season games since 2016. The Bulldogs are 17-3 under Smart after a loss.

Florida linebacker Myles Graham has missed only one tackle in 414 snaps in 2026, earning a Pro Football Focus rating of 90.5. Receiver Eric Singleton Jr. has nine receptions for 82 yards in five games after suffering a high-ankle sprain in the season opener.

Receiver Vernell Brown III has missed the past three games due to a knee injury. Offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner served as an offensive analyst on Smart's staff from 2020 to 2022.

Florida has scored 277 points through seven games in 2026, surpassing its total of 259 points for the entire 2025 season. The Gators have won back-to-back games against top-10 opponents twice in program history, in 2006 and 2008.

"It counts for a lot. It's a rivalry. It counts in the regular record and the SEC record, so this is a huge game. We know that it's an opportunity of a lifetime and we want to be in this position," Graham said.

"I have a lot of respect for what Georgia football has accomplished historically, and then even when you just look most recently over Kirby's time there since 2016, what they've been from a consistency standpoint is so impressive. We're in the infancy stages of trying to build a program that can last."

Smart pointed to recruiting patterns across the state line as a driver of the rivalry's intensity. "I think the most obvious would be the border. I would argue that over the last 20, 30 years, that they have the most players that aren't from Florida are from Georgia, and our most players that aren't from Georgia are from Florida. So we have crossed the state line to recruit players a lot, which creates more rivalry."