![Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier gestures while Florida Gators wide receiver Tank Hawkins (10) and Florida Gators wide receiver Taylor Spierto (30) watch during fall football practice at Heavener Football Complex at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, August 12, 2025. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_4860,h_2733/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/213/01k2hpsz0qd541ev0y1w.jpg "Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier gestures while Florida Gators wide receiver Tank Hawkins (10) and Florida Gators wide receiver Taylor Spierto (30) watch during fall football practice at Heavener Football Complex at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, August 12, 2025. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun]")
There has been a ton of talk about the schedule for the Florida Gators and the level of difficulty Billy Napier and crew are going to have to navigate in order to survive the 2025 campaign.
But for all the talk of how hard the schedule is for the Gators, these are three games Florida should win but could let get away from them if they are not careful.
USF is better than advertised
When the topic of Florida's schedule comes up, the general sentiment is that "Florida has two cupcakes to open the season before traveling to LSU."
The opener for the Gators is the ultimate cupcake of cupcakes as LIU is awful and Florida could win by 60 if it wanted to, but game two against USF has the potential to be trickier than advertised.
The Bulls have played Power Four opponents tough over the last few years. USF put up more of a fight against Miami for one half than Florida did last year, and the Bulls also put up a good fight against Alabama the last two years.
Combined with what happened the last time USF came to The Swamp, Florida needs to make sure it takes care of business in week two.
Texas A&M
On paper, Texas A&M is the "easiest" team Florida will face during the four-game gauntlet of LSU, Miami, Texas, and Texas A&M. Of those four teams, the Aggies are the only team the Gators are ranked ahead of in the preseason polls.
But as we all learned last year, Texas A&M will punish you if you don't come prepared and while the 2025 version of the Florida Gators might feel confident if this game was at the front of the gauntlet, the reality is that Florida runs the risk of being beat up and/or tempted to take its foot off the gas going into College Station.
Tennessee
We even said ourselves that Tennessee feels overranked at No. 24, which feels crazy given they were a playoff team in 2024. But after barely beating Florida as it was in 2024 and then losing their starting QB in the spring, Tennessee feels like vulnerable prey in 2025.
But their spot on the schedule comes the week after traveling to Ole Miss and the week before FSU. It feels weird to state that Tennessee is a "trap game" given that no rival ever should sneak up on you, but given that Tennessee plays New Mexico State the week before facing Florida, there is a real chance the Vols will enter The Swamp as the fresher team.