Streaks and droughts are a part of sports as much are bat flips, touchdown dances and terrible refereeing. They're unavoidable. You probably hear about them every day in some shape or form.
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There's 54: the impressively lengthy MLB record for consecutive at-bats without a hit, set by Orioles first baseman Chris Davis this season. There's 16: the amount of seasons it's been since the Cleveland Browns have made the NFL playoffs. Maybe the most well-known number of all time is 108: the number of years the Chicago Cubs' World Series drought lasted until 2016.
College football fan bases know their streaks, too. Florida Gator fans will recall the loss to Kentucky last season that snapped a 31-game win streak, which was the longest active winning streak over an FBS opponent.
Like UF head coach Dan Mullen, the orange and blue faithful also have one number stored in their minds ready to throw out in any heated argument with their black-and-red-colored rival: 39. It's the number of years since Georgia won its last national championship in 1980.
So when Florida's spring game attendance was announced to be 39,476, many fans and media members thought nothing of it. Mullen suggested prior to the game he may use the figure to troll a rival like Florida State using, say, the number 41,014 (UF beat FSU 41-14 last season).
But it appears some folks over at the Florida Gators subreddit cracked the code after some serious sifting through the numbers.
https://twitter.com/SECNetwork/status/1118220232630382592
Related: UF's Dan Mullen Loves Taking Shots at Rivals. FSU Became His Latest Victim.
Obviously, the 39 is the number of years since the Bulldogs last hoisted the championship trophy. The 476, though? That, my friends, is the number of games Georgia has played since the 1980 title game.
For an idea of how long that is, the Gators have gone 11 years and 128 games since winning the 2008 BCS National Championship game.
This isn't the first time Mullen has jabbed Georgia. In March he took a shot about the way top recruits were transferring out of Georgia, indirectly referencing five-star quarterback Justin Fields' situation:
"I'd think we did a poor job of recruiting if guys were coming in and then immediately walking out the door because it was something different than what they thought it would be and we lied to them during recruiting, or we sold them on a dream that wasn't true."
- Florida Gators head coach Dan Mullen
If UGA head coach Kirby Smart ever wants to fire back using some spring game attendance numbers of his own and keep this fun exchange going, here are some ideas for his press conference:
- 40,008 (rival fans love to make fun of UF's 4-8 season in 2013)
- 36,017 (George walloped Florida, 36-17, in 2018)
- 52,432 (Georgia leads the all-time series 52-43-2, though Florida claims it's 51-43-2)
The Bulldogs and Gators hilariously ended last season ranked tied for seventh in The Associated Press Top 25 Poll, but Georgia has hauled in some dynamite recruiting classes the last couple years.
If UGA wants to stop being the butt of these jokes, there's only one way to do it: bring home a national title. Soon.
Until then, Florida and SEC fans can keep laughing.
