OMG!
The Big Day has arrived.
Get beer and hard seltzers on ice. Prep the snack smorgasbord. Find your orange and blue face paint. Wash your favorite game shirt. Hurry, hurry and rush, rush.
What’s this all about?
The Florida Gators will open the 2025 NCAA football season on Saturday for a scheduled tussle with Long Island University inside The Swamp.
Florida Gators finally ready to spot the ball
It seems like forever that the Gators were in helmets, pads and cleats (not counting the spring game). If you’re looking for exact coordinates, it was 252 days ago, or five days before Christmas, that Florida pounded Tulane 33-8 in the Gasparilla Bowl.
That victory capped a job-saving string of wins for Gator Head Coach Billy Napier. Those feel-good triumphs were fueled by then true freshman quarterback DJ Lagway.
Ending the season on a high note was just enough for the Gator Nation to put away their pitch forks and torches.
If you haven’t heard about the LIU Sharks, you are not alone, friend. This is a NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) team located in Brookville, New York, with another large campus in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City.
The Sharks belong in the Northeast Conference (NEC), which some say is the SEC of the North (actually, no one says that). LIU is the cure for the Gators' recent season-opening ailments.
Florida is 0-2 in its last two openers, losing to Utah 24-11 in 2023 then Miami 41-17 last year.
LIU should not be much trouble for the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) rated Gators, much like grass is no match for a lawnmower.
The FBS is the highest level of play in college football and the SEC is a powerhouse conference featuring some of the game’s stellar programs. It’s like NFL Jr.
Florida should dominate The Cream Puff Bowl and give the Gators a chance to fine tune before facing a more difficult South Florida squad (watch out for this one!) then revenge-minded LSU.
FBS teams rarely lose to FCS teams. The winning percentage for FBS is 90 percent. But beating an FCS opponent is not a complete given. In the last two years FCS has scored 10 wins over FBS bullies.
The Sharks versus Gators sounds like two rival gangs in a Broadway musical but there’s a very good chance Florida players will be singing “New York, New York” when they exit The Swamp.
“Start spreading the news . . .”