Three Southeastern Conference football coaches this season have been fired before Halloween.

Kirby Smart isn’t one of them.

“I think that’s why you come to Georgia,” Bulldogs junior linebacker CJ Allen said Monday during a news conference. “You kind of know that Coach is going to be here and is going to stick around. For someone else who has his coach leave, I imagine that would be hard as far as how that process would go.”

The No. 5 Bulldogs (6-1, 4-1 SEC) are the stable team headed to Jacksonville later this week, and they will face longtime rival Florida, which is under the guidance of interim head coach Billy Gonzales for the first time this season. The Gators (3-4, 2-2) parted ways with Billy Napier on Oct. 19, one day after a fortunate 23-21 escape of visiting Mississippi State.

Georgia is seeking its fifth consecutive series victory, something the Bulldogs last accomplished under the late Vince Dooley with a six-year run from 1978-83.

“There are probably challenges and advantages,” Smart said Monday. “They have a new voice, and sometimes that brings new energy. Sometimes change brings about a spark. I’m sure they’ll change some things up, and not to disrespect Billy, but sometimes when you bring somebody in, there is new juice there.

“I don’t know the challenges it would present, because I haven’t been part of that.”

Smart is in his 10th season at Georgia, having compiled a 111-20 mark that includes national championships in 2021 and 2022. Before that, he spent eight years as Nick Saban’s defensive coordinator at Alabama, so vocational turbulence is not something he has experienced.

Gonzales will be the fourth Florida coach Smart has faced in Jacksonville, having gone 7-2 against the previous trio of Jim McElwain, Dan Mullen and Napier.

Napier was the second SEC coach fired this season, with Sam Pittman of Arkansas being the first and LSU’s Brian Kelly the third. Kelly was fired Sunday night, less than 24 hours after a 49-25 loss to Texas A&M in Baton Rouge.

“It’s the world we live in,” Smart said. “Everybody’s got a voice. Everybody listens to somebody. I don’t know enough about that situation, but it’s obviously a tough situation on everybody. Players are dealing with it. Fans are dealing with it, and coaches are dealing with it in the middle of a season. I think there is so much built around the playoffs, and everything is boom or bust.

“You can’t have a normal season. People have to make decisions earlier based on how somebody does, and I don’t know enough about it. I know they have high expectations. I coached at LSU, and a guy once told me, ‘That office you’re in, that’s not your office. You’re borrowing it.’ I knew right then that if you didn’t win, you wouldn’t be there long.”

When Georgia’s players were growing up, Florida was at the tail end of a dominating series run that began with Steve Spurrier’s hiring in 1990 and contained 18 victories in 21 meetings. The Bulldogs have countered that by claiming 10 of the past 14 encounters.

Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo was the quarterback of the 1997 Bulldogs, who defeated Florida 37-17 to deal Spurrier his only series loss in 12 games.

“I think so, but I’m really not 100% sure,” Georgia redshirt junior center Drew Bobo said when asked if his father gets up for this matchup more than others. “He gets worked up for all of them for different reasons just because he’s played so many games against most of the teams we play.

“He has something he remembers from each game that works him up about it.”

Though Georgia is having the decidedly better season, the Bulldogs are just 7.5-point favorites for Saturday’s showdown, which has a 3:30 p.m. kickoff on ABC. Georgia has won each of the past four meetings by at least two touchdowns.

“This game definitely means a lot,” said Allen, who lives an hour south of Atlanta in Barnesville. “I’m a Georgia kid, so it definitely means a lot. Obviously there is a lot of history with this game.”

Georgia and Florida first played in 1904, and the Bulldogs hold a 57-44-2 series advantage.

Father and son

Drew Bobo put the life of a college coach in perspective Monday when asked about his father.

“I’m getting to see him every day,” he said. “I’ve probably seen him more since I’ve been a football player at Georgia than I’ve seen him in the rest of my whole life combined, just because he was always on the road. It’s been great for me to get closer to him through doing all this.”

Favorite costume

Bobo was asked to name his favorite Halloween costume from childhood.

“I was Jack Sparrow for a couple of years,” he said. “I was Aaron Murray two years. I think I was someone from Star Wars, but my best one was probably Aaron Murray.”

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.