The 2024 Gators football schedule has been revealed. (Photo credit: Gabriella Aulisio, the Independent Florida Alligator)
We knew the opponents, and we knew some of the dates. But now, the entirety of the 2024 Gators football schedule has been revealed.
Florida’s long-awaited showdown with the Miami Hurricanes will get the season started on August 31st in the Swamp. That, as it turns out, will kick-start a three-game home stand for the Gators that is very reasonable to expect Florida to escape unscathed. The Gators will then host Samford and then a new-look Texas A&M squad in weeks two and three, with the latter serving as Mike Elko’s first road trip as the Aggies’ head coach.
The Gators will then hit the road to Starkville, Mississippi, for a showdown against Mississippi State to end September. Though historically StarkVegas has been a house of horrors for Florida, the Gators have won their two most recent games in Davis-Wade Stadium: an ugly 29-19 affair in 2009 with then-senior QB Tim Tebow and an even uglier 13-6 defensive slugfest in 2018, in which Dan Mullen returned to his old stomping grounds and left the MSU faithful disappointed.
After a bye, October will begin with a home game against Central Florida, in just the fourth-ever meeting between the in-state foes. Florida obliterated the Golden Knights 58-27 in 1999 and then again 42-0 in 2006. Central Florida, to its credit, finally got on the board in the series by beating a skeleton Florida team 29-17 in the 2021 Gasparilla Bowl.
The week after that, Florida hits the road to square off against Tennessee on Rocky Top. The Gators have dominated the Vols historically, winning 17 of the last 19 matchups. However, the Vols did win the most recent meeting in Knoxville, a 38-33 shootout in 2022. Then it’s back to the Swamp for a revenge game against Kentucky on October 19, which has beaten Florida three straight times.
The 2024 Gators football schedule then enters a hellacious final month, which begins with the annual showdown against Georgia in Jacksonville. The Bulldogs have crushed the Gators three straight times, all by 22 points or more.
From there, it just gets worse. The week after the Cocktail Party, Florida travels to Texas for the first meeting between the Gators and the Longhorns since 1940. Historically, there would be a breather in there, either in the form of a bye or a cupcake opponent. But not this year: after back-to-back battles with Georgia and Texas, Florida will have to turn right around and face the LSU Tigers, a team that’s beaten the Gators five straight times.
The season then concludes with a pair of 2023 New Year’s Six combatants. The Gators’ home finale will be against Ole Miss on November 23rd, and the yearly rivalry against FSU, this time in Tallahassee, wraps up the regular season slate.
So in its entirety, the 2024 Gators football schedule looks like this:
8/31: MIAMI
9/7: SAMFORD
9/14: TEXAS A&M
9/21: @ Mississippi State
9/28: bye
10/5: CENTRAL FLA
10/12: @ Tennessee
10/19: KENTUCKY
10/26: bye
11/2: vs. Georgia (Jax)
11/9: @ Texas
11/16: LSU
11/23: MISSISSIPPI
11/30: @ Florida State
