Florida Football: Dan Mullen hints Gators were supposed to play USC in Las Vegas

This season, Florida Football will open the year against Miami in The Swamp. It is a marquee match up that should pop a big rating on TV.

But according to former Gator coach Dan Mullen, there was another big name team Florida was in discussions with to kick off a season.

Florida Football: Fight On

This season USC, the one with academic standards, is going to have their opening game against LSU in Las Vegas.

Matt Hayes of Saturday Down South reported earlier in the week that USC has spent the last two years trying to back out of the game, partly because of the difficult schedule the Trojans will have within the Big 10 in 2024 in addition to their annual game against Notre Dame.

Hayes followed up his report with a tweet on Friday claiming that Mullen told him Florida was in talks with USC at point to play the game in Vegas, but couldn't never make the logistics work.

Southern California would have been a fun opponent for the Gators to face and Florida hasn't shown fear in trying to schedule better out of conference opposition. Plus, with expanded playoffs now a reality, it benefits teams to beef up their strength of schedule as the playoff committee has shown it does value quality wins over filler (looking at FSU).

The Gators have played the Trojans twice in program history, both in the early 80s. The Gators won the match up in 1982 and the two teams tied in 1983.