Florida football: CBS picks up Auburn-Florida game Oct. 5

It is shaping up to be a top-10 battle in two weeks. Thus, CBS is picking up the Florida football game Oct. 5 against the Auburn Tigers.

Barring a pair of massive letdowns this week, Oct 5 will feature a top-10 showdown at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium as Florida football hosts Auburn.

The Tigers, fresh off a 28-20 win at Texas A&M is ranked No. 7 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25.

Florida, on the other hand, dismantled Tennessee at The Swamp, 34-3 and held the No. 9 spot in the poll — unchanged from a week ago.

The Oct. 5 match-up will be picked up by CBS and its SEC on CBS coverage. The kickoff has been scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

That week, the SEC Network will host Utah State at No. 4 LSU, Troy at Missouri and Vanderbilt at Ole Miss. ESPN will have the 7 p.m. kickoff in Knoxville as Tennessee will host No. 3 Georgia.

The game between Florida football and Auburn will be the first time the Gators have hosted the Tigers at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium since 2007. Auburn defeated Florida, 17-6 in their last meeting in 2011 at Auburn.

The only thing that could ruin the big game will be if Auburn can’t take care of Mississippi State this weekend at home, or if the Gators can’t beat Towson in a non-conference home game.

This game will also be the Homecoming game for Florida football. According to floridagators.com, the Gators are 67-26-2 in Homecoming games — 25-5 since 1989.

The last time both teams were ranked in the top 10 was 1997 when No. 7 Florida beat No. 6 Auburn, 24-10 in Auburn. The year before, No. 1 Florida slammed No. 10 Auburn, 51-10. In 1995, No. 3 Florida beat No. 7 Auburn, 49-38.

Those three straight wins came after back-to-back seasons where Auburn upset the Gators. In 1994, No. 6 Auburn was 17-point underdogs going into The Swamp to face No. Florida. Gator starting quarterback Terry Dean threw four interceptions before being replaced by Danny Wuerffel.

The Oct. 5 matchup has all the makings of a huge SEC game.