If you take a walk down memory lane, you’ll notice that in four all-time matchups against the Texas Longhorns, the Florida Gators have no wins, with two of the four losses being shutouts, and the most recent loss an embarrassment:
- 1924: Florida 7 Texas 7 in Texas.
- 1939: Florida 0 Texas 12 in Texas.
- 1940: Texas 26 Florida 0 in Gainesville, FL.
- 2024: Florida 17 Texas 49 in Austin, Texas.
The history speaks for itself on how Florida has fared throughout the years against the mighty Longhorns of Texas, as they have been shut out twice and obliterated in points in two of the three matchups as well.
Last year is the year many remember, when a struggling 4-4 Gator team (2-3 in conference) traveled to Austin to take on the 7-1 Longhorns (3-1 in conference). It wasn’t a game many wish to remember as the Gators were shutout 35-0 going into the third quarter and were ultimately speared by Texas’ horns 49-17.
Aidan Warner was in the pocket for the Gators in that game. He was 12-for-25 with 132, averaging 5.3 yards per pass, and threw two interceptions.
Rushing, Florida’s Ja’Kobi Jackson had 19 carries for 116 yards and a touchdown, Jadan Baugh had 19 for 88 yards for a touchdown, and Warner had three carries of his own, but for a rough -7 yards per carry totaling 197 yards of rushing offense for Florida. The Gators also had two fumbles on the day.
On the other side of the ball, Florida could not stop Texas’ offense. They used two quarterbacks in the game, with Quinn Ewers starting behind the pocket and Arch Manning, who they’ll likely see this weekend, coming in behind Ewers as well with Texas very ahead of the Gators.
Ewers was 19-for-27 for 333 yards, almost tripling that of Warner. Ewers threw for five touchdowns, averaging 12.3 yards per pass and had a QB rating of 92.6 vs Warner’s 37.2.
Manning came in as well, going 3-for-6 for 19 yards as the two combined for 352 yards of passing offense.
Behind them, the Texas rush team combined for 31 carries for 210 yards, averaging 6.8 yards per carry, and had two carries of 44 plus yards and two touchdowns as Texas had seven touchdowns on the day.
Going into their 2024 matchup, Florida was not ranked, and Texas was ranked No. 5. Once again coming into their matchup in Florida this weekend, the Gators are not ranked, as they are once again struggling in 2025, and Texas comes in ranked No. 9.
Too add salt to a wound, after Florida’s miserable loss to Texas, that is when Scott Stricklin came out and said Billy Napier was his guy and would “continue as head football coach of the Florida Gators.” And as we all know, that comment was not one that aged well as Florida once again finds themselves in a 1-3 hole while Texas comes in 3-1.
With the history what it is and with how rough Florida has looked this year, not many have high hopes that this weekend will be any different for the Gators. We’re all hoping we get shocked and that the open week was a chance for the Gators to regroup and fix what they had going on, but time will tell and Gator fans will be holding their breath when the Longhorns stampede into the Swamp.
The two teams face off in the Swamp this Saturday at 3:30PM ET.