Florida faces Ole Miss on the road to open the season
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The 10-game Florida Football schedule for the 2020 season was unveiled by the Southeastern Conference Monday evening during special programming on the SEC Network.
The Gators’ season opener – a Sept. 26 road trip to Ole Miss – was announced on the Paul Finebaum Show earlier in the day. Florida’s home opener will be against South Carolina the following Saturday (Oct. 3).
This season will mark the first time since 1987 the Gators’ opening game is on the road. Florida traveled to Miami that year.
2020 Florida Football Schedule
Week 1 (Sept. 26) – at Ole Miss (Oxford, Miss.)
Week 2 (Oct. 3 ) – South Carolina (Gainesville, Fla.)
Week 3 (Oct. 10) – at Texas A&M (College Station, Texas)
Week 4 (Oct. 17) – LSU (Gainesville, Fla.)
Week 5 (Oct. 24) – Missouri (Gainesville, Fla.)
Week 6 (Oct. 31) – OPEN
Week 7 (Nov. 7) – vs. Georgia (Jacksonville, Fla.)
Week 8 (Nov. 14) – Arkansas (Gainesville, Fla.)
Week 9 (Nov. 21) – at Vanderbilt (Nashville, Tenn.)
Week 10 (Nov. 28) – Kentucky (Gainesville, Fla.)
Week 11 (Dec. 5) – at Tennessee (Knoxville, Tenn.)
SEC Championship Game (Atlanta, Ga.) – Dec. 19
The Gators’ season opener against Ole Miss marks their first trip to Oxford since 2007. Florida and Ole Miss last met in 2015, when the Gators won a 38-10 blowout over the No. 3-ranked Rebels in The Swamp. Florida trails Ole Miss in the series, 11-12-1. The Gators and Rebels last faced each other in a season-opening matchup back in 1989.
Florida welcomes South Carolina to The Swamp on Oct. 3 for the first home game of the conference-only slate, with the Gators eyeing a third consecutive win over the Gamecocks. Florida holds a 28-9-3 edge in the series against South Carolina. Last season, Florida defeated South Carolina, 38-27, in Columbia.
UF gets right back on the road and faces Texas A&M the following Saturday, Oct. 10. Florida has played Texas A&M four times in its history, and the two programs have only met twice since the Aggies joined the SEC. The two programs split those four meetings, with the last coming in The Swamp in 2017. The last matchup in College Station came in 2012, with the Gators earning a 20-17 victory.
Florida will host LSU (Oct. 17) and Missouri (Oct. 24) on consecutive weekends.
The last time LSU traveled to Gainesville, the Gators played in front of a raucous crowd of 90,283 and a national television audience on CBS. Florida came away with a 27-19 win, which was sealed with a fourth-quarter interception return touchdown. LSU leads the overall series, 34-29-3.
The Gators have faced Missouri annually since 2012, with Florida holding a 6-3 advantage in the series. Last season, Florida went to Columbia and returned home with a 23-6 win.
Following their lone open date, the Gators will once again face Georgia at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Fla. The long-standing rivalry series between the two programs dates back to 1915, with Florida holding a 21-9 record in the series since 1990.
Florida will then return home for a Nov. 14 game against Arkansas. It will be the first game between the two programs since 2016, when the Gators traveled to Fayetteville. Florida has won nine of the 11 meetings in the series, including a 30-10 victory in 2013, the last time the two met in Gainesville.
The Gators, who own a 41-10-2 lead over the Commodores and a six-game winning streak, will travel to Nashville for a contest on Nov. 21. Florida last traveled to the Music City in 2018, where they secured a 37-27 win. In 2019, the Gators earned a 56-0 victory over Vanderbilt when the hosted the Commodores at the Swamp.
The Gators, who own a 52-18 lead against Kentucky, will close out the home slate on Nov. 28. The two teams last met in Lexington in 2019, where Gators quarterback Kyle Trask stepped in at the end of the third quarter to lead Florida’s offense to a double-digit comeback and secure a 29-21 victory.
The Gators and the Vols will meet up for their yearly matchup in Knoxville to wrap up the regular season on Dec. 5. The Gators last traveled to Knoxville in 2018, where the Gators furthered their series lead with a 47-21 win. With a 34-3 win in 2019 at the Swamp, the Gators now lead the series 29-20.
