Looks like Florida-LSU rivalry is going to stay, but the Florida-Auburn rivalry is going away.
Recently, the SEC decided to stick with a 6-1-1 football schedule, meaning each team will play the other six teams in its division, one permanent opponent from the other division, (in Florida’s case, that would be LSU) and the eight SEC opponent would rotate among the other six teams in the opposite division.
So, from 2014 through 2025, that list of rotating opponents has been set. Here are Florida’s non-LSU, SEC West opponents over the next 12 years:
2014 @ Alabama
2015 Ole Miss
2016 @ Arkansas
2017 Texas A&M
2018 @ Mississippi State
2019 Auburn
2020 @ Ole Miss
2021 Alabama
2022 @ Texas A&M
2023 Arkansas
2024 @ Auburn
2025 Mississippi State
I would have no problem with this, except that it kills one of the great rivalries in college football: Florida-Auburn. Playing twice every twelve years does not satisfy the hunger of thousands of Florida and Auburn fans who feel the same way, and it will ensure that Florida will not have beaten Auburn in at least 17 years- way too long for such an intense rivalry. Similarly, the losing team and its fan base will forever have to stew over the loss to their former bitter rivals for some six years at a time.
On the bright side, Florida FINALLY gets that rematch with Ole Miss, in the Swamp no less, next season. That’s a day I’ve been waiting for since September 27, 2008, when Shay Hodge burned Florida for an 86 yard touchdown reception, Kentrell Lockett blocked Jonathan Phillips’ extra point that would have tied it, and Marcus Temple stuffed Tim Tebow on a fourth and one to end the game. Yes, I still remember that day oh so vividly, and it’s nice to finally have a chance to even the score with them.
