Florida football, along with the rest of the SEC, has been waiting for a final answer on what their annual schedule will look like as the conference expands.
With the most likely option being a nine-game conference schedule with three permanent opponents, there have been rumblings about who the Gators will get to play every year. Georgia? Tennessee? Do they keep their yearly rivalry with LSU? Will Kentucky stop being a yearly opponent?
While we still don’t know for sure what the final decision will be, there are starting to be some rumors about each team’s permanent opponents, and this list was somewhat endorsed by Nick Saban.
Here’s the list of each team’s opponents from Sports Illustrated:
https://twitter.com/RossDellenger/status/1631723095667998725?s=20
As if he hasn’t had enough issues with modern-day college football, Nick Saban was upset that Bama drew the teams that they did: “They’re giving us Tennessee, Auburn, and LSU. I don’t know how they come to that [decision].”
But we aren’t here to talk about Bama or Saban. Let’s look at Florida’s draw.
According to this list, the Gators would see Georgia, South Carolina, and Oklahoma every year, rotating the rest of the SEC as the years go by.
First, let’s get into the pros of this list. The Gators get to keep the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party and continue one of the best rivalries in college sports. They also keep their game with South Carolina, a team that Florida has had a lot of success playing against in recent history.
And a yearly matchup with Oklahoma will be really fun for UF. It gives Gator fans a chance to visit Norman and see a new venue and will allow the Gators to increase their recruiting presence in that region of the country.
With all the good that comes with these three games, there’s a little bit of bad too.
The biggest negative is that the Gators will no longer play Tennessee, Kentucky, and LSU every year. These three games are sometimes what defines how good a Florida football season is, and now they’ll be bi-annual.
We’re yet to see how they’ll schedule the rotating opponents, but can you imagine a season where the Gators play none of those three teams? That’s just weird.
With expansion comes a lot of change, and as fans, we’re going to have to deal with it. Nothing is official yet, but if the league decides to go with three permanent opponents, the Florida season will start to look a lot different on a yearly basis.
Keep up with Florida football at Hail Florida Hail.