The announcement that CBS will show the Tennessee-Florida game at 3:30 is not surprising. This is a Championship Mode game and CBS wanted it in their top spot. But, the sweltering heat plus the blood boiling hatred (if you are one of those bizarre people who do not already hate Tennessee), will bring this game to a new level. Gator fans are anticipating a 70-0 beat down, with Tim Tebow striding across Lake Alice on his way to the Gator Walk. Tennessee fans are anticipating unleashing their boy Lane on the unsuspecting SEC, and ending the Gators' title chances. A pedestrian 37-24 win for Florida almost seems impossible. It's all or nothing.
I cannot think of another Tennessee game I have been anticipating like this. FSU games? Yes, but not Tennessee. Not even the season-ender in 2001, moved due to the 9/11 attacks. (That was my senior year of high school, and I toned down my Gator-fandom in case they rejected me.) I can't even imagine how intense it will be, and I'm someone who yells when Florida is up by four scores.
Another Championship Mode game filled with hate will be Georgia, also a 3:30 start time on Halloween. (Florida-Georgia for Halloween? My God, Jacksonville will burn.) Maybe this is why UF President Bernie Machen does not want as many alcohol vendors in Jax, as the weekend has turned into a way to drop UF's enrollment. But this is like keeping Gasparilla attendees from peeing on rich people's homes; it's not going to happen. (Oh, they're trying to do that? Good luck Hyde Park.) My one Jax experience involved fitting 8 people into a 2-door Chevy Cavalier, sleeping in an abandoned lot, having stray dogs stalk our tent, then evacuating Jax with my brother like the British at Dunkirk.
If Bernie wanted to save kids from the evils of alcohol, he'd get hotels to cut their rates (so you sleep off your buzz in a bed, not a parking garage ledge), make the Jax Police actually enforce laws (Jax acts like this is Mardi Gras), and make areas accessable only to ticket holders or alumni/students (again, locals acting like it's Mardi Gras and starting problems). Machen and UGA's prez have Jacksonville bent over backwards to keep the game in The Bold New City of The South. This is their chance to keep the Florida-Georgia game from being a weekend you forget because you were unconcious from drinking or getting your ass kicked by some guys from Baldwin.
Of course, the other problem with alcohol is that, if not in moderation, it can hurt your ability to be in Championship Mode. That's why UF now has a texting system to alert stadium security of any drunk assholes, douchy frat boys, or people not willing to be in Championship Mode. At least, that's what I'd use it for.