Four years ago, the Florida Gators announced a home-and-home series with Notre Dame that would take place in 2031 and 2032. It was part of a larger push the Gators had been putting together to schedule more and more intriguing non-conference games instead of three tomato cans and FSU.
But now that the SEC is moving towards nine-conference games, in combination with Notre Dame’s constant whining and moaning since being left out of the playoffs, the odds of those two games ever happening feel less and less by the day.
Notre Dame won’t stop crying
Since being left out of the playoffs, Notre Dame has done everything except call Morgan and Morgan to justify why they should have been in. They have blamed the ACC, convinced themselves that their head-to-head loss against Miami shouldn’t count because it was played in August, and have refused to play in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.
It’s a playbook straight out of Tallahassee, which, as the Seminoles could tell you, doesn’t end well.
As if Notre Dame’s crash out isn’t comical enough, it was revealed this week that the Fighting Irish have an MOU in place that guarantees them a playoff spot in 2026 if Notre Dame finishes in the top 12 of the playoff seeding. Had that been in place this year, Notre Dame would have gotten the final playoff spot ahead of Miami despite being seeded behind them.
Not impressed by Notre Dame throwing a temper tantrum like a four-year-old who got their tablet taken away, a report from Dan Wolken of Yahoo Sports indicates that athletic directors from around the country are threatening to “freeze out” Notre Dame from future scheduling.
After learning of Notre Dame's memorandum of understanding that grants the Irish preferential playoff access starting next year, athletic directors in other leagues are threatening to freeze Notre Dame out of future schedules, per @DanWolken pic.twitter.com/xrxN3meME8
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) December 11, 2025
For Florida specifically, they are in a tough spot with or without Notre Dame’s meltdown. Starting next year, the SEC moves to nine conference games while requiring members to play at least one Power Four opponent from outside the SEC. The annual Florida vs. FSU matchup will suffice for this requirement, and when one factors in the inevitable FCS game, this will leave Florida with just one game to schedule per year.
Conventional wisdom would think this final game would be a home game against a Group of Five opponent.
As fun as a trip to Notre Dame may be for the Gators, the realities of the schedule going forward, combined with Notre Dame acting like a child, make it hard to advocate to keep this game on the docket.