Florida Gators 2012 Football Schedule Has Its Benefits And Drawbacks

On Wednesday, the Florida Gators’ 2012 football schedule was released to anticipation not experienced in quite some time. That anticipation had as much to do with the Gators as it did with the new (and improved?) 14-team SEC. We knew Florida would be facing the Texas A&M Aggies and Missouri Tigers, but we weren’t entirely sure when and how those games would impact the rest of the schedule. Now we know.

A few thoughts come to mind with the releasing of the schedule. There are those parts of the schedule that benefit the Gators, but there are also those that could be seen as drawbacks. We already anticipate 2012 to be an uphill battle for Florida. 2011 didn’t answer many questions and left us all wondering what the future would bring. If the future was supposed to be 2012, it’s now 2013. Rebuilding doesn’t happen overnight, especially with an incomplete roster. Roster concerns are a discussion for another time though. For now, the schedule.

A completely unintentional twist to the schedule is the start of it. The Gators will close the 2011 season with the Gator Bowl against the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Buckeyes are soon to be coached by former Florida head man Urban Meyer (as if you weren’t aware of that fact). Florida opens the 2012 season against the Bowling Green Falcons. Meyer just so happened to be the Falcons’ head coach 10 years ago. It’s a merely a minor coincidence and one I had to reach for, but it’s there.

To have the Gators not open their SEC schedule with the Tennessee Volunteers is a problem. Okay, so it may only be a problem to me and a select few others who feel that matchup should always kick off the conference schedule. On one side of the coin, that game hasn’t always started the SEC games for Florida. On the other, it has for a while now and we’re (read: I’m) used to it. It doesn’t create a problem per say, but starting the conference schedule with Texas A&M in week two will be a change and possibly a challenge. It might not be a change we have to become accustomed to though as 2013 will bring the first of the “true” schedule templates for the near future. 2012 is simply a blip as the conference gets comfortable with 14 teams.

With the Gators visiting the Aggies on September 8, so starts what can be considered an early conference slate. Florida plays its eight SEC opponents in a row with only one bye week – the September 29 weekend – to separate the madness. That means the Gators will play all of their conference games within their first nine. There are a few ways to look at this, but one could be that it’s madness. On the positive side, Florida will know it’s Atlanta-bound fate (if there is any) early, or at least part of it. On the negative side, the Gators are given little warm-up before the SEC and are done with conference play when they host Missouri on November 3. The first weekend of November seems like an incredibly early time to be finished with your SEC schedule.

Florida then gets what we hope are tune-ups before meeting the Florida State Seminoles to end the regular season. A non-conference game in November other than the annual matchup against the ‘Noles has become a normal occurrence in recent years; now we have two. Although it is unlikely to ever occur, one of those opponents would be nice in each of September, October and November. That may be wishful thinking, especially if the SEC does ever go to a nine-game schedule. They seem content with eight conference games at the moment, but anything can and will change.

Then there are the games that were removed. Florida was set to host the Auburn Tigers in 2012 and the Ole Miss Rebels were scheduled to rotate onto the slate. Neither of those games will occur and we aren’t quite sure when they’ll return. SEC officials, if you’re listening, this is where a nine-game conference schedule could actually come in handy.

Overall, the schedule isn’t a terribly awful one to get up in arms about. It has its quirks, but may also have its advantages. The games against the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns and Jacksonville State Gamecocks may give the Gators a chance to heal up before facing FSU and a potential bowl opponent (and go ahead and throw Atlanta in there if you must). For all we know, finishing the SEC schedule in early November could be a blessing in disguise. When it comes to playing the games, the order may not matter one bit and we could all be looking into it a little too much. For now, Ohio State is on the horizon and that newly released 2012 schedule impacts little for more than nine months. But discuss it we will and I’m sure this won’t be the only time.