The rematch that Gator fans have been waiting seven years for finally has a start time. Or at least a narrowed down range of start times.
It’s time to turn the lights back on in the Swamp, because the Gators’ huge showdown with Mississippi has been given two possible kickoff times: either 7:00pm on ESPN OR ESPN2 or 7:30pm on the SEC Network. The Gators are familiar with both slots, having played two of their first three games (New Mexico State and Kentucky) in the latter slot and their other one (East Carolina) in the former.
The reason the start time hasn’t been set yet is because ESPN has three games to fit into those two slots, but are awaiting next week’s results of the teams in those three games to determine the network they’ll be playing on. The other two games are Arkansas-Tennessee and Mississippi State-Texas A&M. One of these three games will be on ESPN at 7:00pm, another one will be at 7:00pm on ESPN2 and the third one will get the SEC Network slot at 7:30pm.
Ole Miss figures to provide quite a tough test for Florida this year, which is quite the inverse of the pre game buildup to the last time they played. Of course, that game was the infamous Tim Tebow “Promise” game in 2008, where a 2-2 Rebel team came into the Swamp and shocked the 4th ranked Gators, and many Gator fans have been chomping at the bit for the rematch since. The Rebels have already gone into Bryant Denny Stadium and come away with a huge win over then #2 Alabama, so how much they’ll be affected by the Swamp at night isn’t something I’m thinking too positively about.
Then again, as this same school showed us seven years ago, anything is possible.
