Gator Nation’s confidence meter: Is LIU truly a warm-up?

As we are getting closer and closer to kickoff for the Florida Gators, it's time we here at Hail Florida Hail bust out our annual "Confidence Meter." Essentially, this is the amount of confidence we have for Florida in each of their games, and it is subject to change as the season progresses.

First up is the opener against Long Island University, marking the first time in the Billy Napier Era and the first time overall since 2018 that the Gators will face an FCS squad as its opener.

But is LIU one of those feisty FCS squads, or are they a creampuff that is just happy to be getting a paycheck?

Let's dive in.

Florida Gators take on LIU in the season opener

LIU was a decent D2 squad to D1/FCS in 2019. But if you want a drinking game that will have you hammered by the end of the 1st quarter, drink a Long Island every time Florida scores a touchdown against Long Island.

Because the LIU Sharks are not good, even for an FCS squad. In the six seasons they have existed as an FCS squad, they have a grand total of 16 wins and have never won more than four games in a single season.

If you are keeping score at home, LIU has averaged 2.6 wins per year since moving up to D1.

They have scored 30 or more points a grand total of nine times since turning D1.

Who is on the roster for LIU in 2025? Couldn't tell you since they don't have an updated roster on their website.

About the only two notable things about LIU are that they scored a 55-yard touchdown off a Tush Push last season, and their head coach, Ron Cooper, was once the successor at Louisville for Howard Schnellenberger.

Confidence Meter - 99.9%

This is college football, and anything is possible, but it would require one of the most seismic upsets in the history of college football for this game to even be close.

This is one of those games where Florida could run basic Cover-2 Man on defense and run HB Dive the entire game on offense and still win this game 55-3.

To some extent, LIU is probably going to offer so little resistance that Florida might not learn anything of note from the game.

But compared to the last two seasons, when Florida came out completely flat and was punished against Utah and Miami, opening against a cupcake allows the Gators to work out the kinks before having to go on the road against LSU.