The day Georgia’s players danced in the Florida end zone back in 2007 was the day this rivalry awakened from its slumber.

Granted, much of that slumber was the result of the Gators winning every year.

They’ve won 17 of the past 20 meetings between the teams heading into Saturday’s annual affair in Jacksonville.

But Georgia’s 42-30 win in 2007 changed things.

In particular, the celebration penalty after the Bulldogs’ first touchdown -- the one ordered by Mark Richt because he felt like his team wasn’t playing with enough enthusiasm -- changed things.

That next year, Florida and Urban Meyer got theirs.

The Gators, on their way to a second national championship in the last three years, pummeled the Bulldogs 49-10 in 2008. Still fuming about the end-zone celebration the year before, Meyer called a pair of timeouts in the final minute just to rub it in.

Sure enough, one of college football’s most enduring rivalries had been reborn.

The partying outside the stadium will always be one of the things that defines this game. Hence the catchy nickname we’re not supposed to use anymore.

But the game itself has become the big ticket again, and even this season, there’s a unique twist.

For the first time in 31 years, neither team is nationally ranked.

And, yet, the game could still play a key role in who wins the Eastern Division championship.

Florida has lost three in a row, but still controls its own destiny in the East. A loss Saturday to Georgia, however, would finish the Gators once and for all.

Georgia has won three in a row, but that’s after losing four in a row earlier this season. The Bulldogs don’t control their own fate in the East. But if they win this game and can get South Carolina to lose twice more, they would be the East representative in Atlanta.

It’s been that kind of season in the East, and even when his club looked like it might be flat-lining, Richt never lost sight of the fact that his Bulldogs weren’t completely out of it.

“If we’re mathematically out of it, it’s tougher to motivate,” Richt acknowledged. “Even when we were 0-3 in the league, it was not mathematically impossible, and I was personally keeping my hopes the whole time. I wasn’t talking much about it. I was just trying to win a game when we were sitting there at 0-3 in the league. But as we began to win and other teams began to lose, it was apparent that there was a chance.”

Both Florida and Georgia have had to do their share of soul searching at different points this season.

The Gators were off last week, and Meyer said they went back to the drawing board offensively. Florida is 89^th nationally in total offense.

Meyer said the offense was modified “quite a bit” during the bye week, although he wouldn’t get any more specific than that. He remains hopeful that running back Jeff Demps (foot) will be as healthy as he’s been in some time. Meyer also said Chris Rainey would be eligible to play in this game after being suspended for the past five games following his arrest on stalking charges.

The Bulldogs, after losing four in a row earlier this season, made some personnel changes in their secondary. They also got star receiver A.J. Green back from suspension.

But their most glaring changes came in practice.

“We just had to get back to the fundamentals of football,” Richt said. “Coaches say it all the time. We just had to practice differently with a lot more live action, a lot more tackling to the ground, blocking below the waist, playing full speed and competing, No. 1s vs. No. 1s and 2s vs. 2s.

“It became spring ball there for a little bit and really still has on Tuesdays. We’re scrimmaging and going best-on-best. We think it’s helped us compete better. We think it’s helped us play harder. We think it’s helped our fundamentals of blocking and tackling. And quite frankly, I think it was therapeutic to go compete and play football again. It sparked us and gave us some momentum.

“We just have to keep it going now.”