At long last, the Florida Gators 2020 football schedule has been released. Here it is, in full.
| Florida Gators 2020 football schedule | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week | Date | Opponent | |||
| 1 | 9/26 |  |
@ Mississippi | ||
| 2 | 10/3 |  |
S CAROLINA | ||
| 3 | 10/10 |  |
@ Texas A&M | ||
| 4 | 10/17 |  |
LSU | ||
| 5 | 10/24 |  |
MISSOURI | ||
| 6 | — | BYE | |||
| 7 | 11/7 |  |
GeorgiaA | ||
| 8 | 11/14 |  |
ARKANSAS | ||
| 9 | 11/21 |  |
@ Vanderbilt | ||
| 10 | 11/28 |  |
KENTUCKY | ||
| 11 | 12/5 |  |
@ Tennessee | ||
| 12/19 | ? | SEC TITLEB | |||
| A = Jacksonville, FL | B = Atlanta, GA | |||||
A few things popped out to me. First and foremost, it kind of feels like Florida and Georgia were both gypped out of a chance to play each other on the final weekend of the season. This could have been a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the two teams do battle with everything on the line on rivalry weekend, the way Alabama and Auburn do in the Iron Bowl. And the Jacksonville Jaguars were off that week, meaning the stadium was available. But the SEC blew that opportunity, pitting them against one another on November 7th.
Alas, the Gators will end with Tennessee, which brings back some horrid memories of what happened nineteen years earlier. On December 1, 2001, Florida hosted Tennessee with the division, potentially the SEC and a trip to the Rose Bowl (then the national championship) on the line. The Vols shattered those dreams for the Gators, and then turned right around and lost to an LSU team that Florida had humiliated 44-15 in Baton Rouge in the SEC Title Game the following week.
Other dates that jump out: that season opener against Mississippi in Oxford could be an ugly one. Florida typically doesn’t play well in season openers anyway, but now they’re facing a Rebel team that’s even more of a mess than the Miami team they escaped against last year in Orlando. Meanwhile, Arkansas comes to Gainesville the week after the Georgia showdown, which could be fun if the Gators are ready for Feleipe Franks and potentially very dangerous if they’re not. And the Thanksgiving weekend slot that usually features FSU was filled by Kentucky; that will now be Florida’s Senior Day. Interestingly enough, the Gators will end with three straight SEC East teams, two of which (Kentucky and Tennessee) they typically play within the first month of the season.
So at least for now, it looks like we get football. Here’s to a fun and hopefully outbreak-free season.
