Florida started loading up its non-conference schedule with a string of opponents the Gators normally never see. Florida had scheduled NC State, Cal, and Arizona State, only for those series to be canceled. Florida also had a non-conference series set up with Texas, which was also canceled once the Longhorns joined the SEC.
Well, add Notre Dame to the list, as the two sides have axed a previously agreed-upon home-and-home, and it reminds fans of the nature of modern college football scheduling.
Florida and Notre Dame cancel series
The AP was the first to report that Florida and Notre Dame will not be moving forward with a planned home-and-home series the two sides had for 2031 and 2032. The deal was first signed in 2021, but it did have a clause that allowed Florida to back out if the SEC moved to a nine-game schedule.
The move isn’t shocking, and we would suspect that the series Florida has planned with Colorado in 2028 and 2029 has a high chance of also not happening now that the SEC has a nine game schedule.
The nine-game schedule in the SEC was a hot topic of debate among coaches, and as it is playing out this year, it is causing some chaos within the SEC. But another effect the nine-game schedule has had for Florida specifically is that random non-conference games like Notre Dame just aren’t feasible. With only three non-conference games to work with, and given that one of those is always FSU and the other is a home game against an FCS opponent, that leaves Florida with just one non-conference game to work with.
While a matchup with Notre Dame would be more exciting than, say, FAU, expecting Florida to give up a home game isn’t realistic. Plus, the playoff committee still has an inconsistent track record of how much it will reward a team for playing a hellish schedule.
It’s a big reason why we don’t anticipate Florida and Miami squaring off in the regular season anytime soon under the current format, even though a game against the Hurricanes would have way more buzz than next year’s opener against South Alabama, followed by Charleston Southern.
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