Florida’s latest canceled non-conference series is another reminder of what the SEC’s nine-game schedule is already taking away from fans.
The Gators and Notre Dame will not go forward with the home-and-home they had lined up for 2031 and 2032, according to the AP. The agreement, signed in 2021, included a built-in escape hatch that let Florida walk away if the SEC adopted a nine-game league schedule.
That’s exactly what happened, and it adds Notre Dame to a growing list of matchups Florida had on the board before realignment and scheduling math got in the way. The Gators had previously lined up series with NC State, Cal and Arizona State, only for those to be canceled. A non-conference series with Texas also fell apart once the Longhorns joined the SEC.
The Notre Dame cancellation isn’t surprising, and it likely puts Florida’s planned series with Colorado in 2028 and 2029 in jeopardy as well. Once the SEC moved to nine conference games, the squeeze on Florida’s calendar got a lot tighter.
That’s the core issue. Florida now has only three non-conference games to play with, and one of them is always reserved for Florida State.
Another is a home game against an FCS opponent. That leaves just one open slot, which makes ambitious home-and-homes hard to keep on the books.
A game against Notre Dame would obviously bring more juice than a matchup with FAU, but giving up a home date is a tough sell. And with the College Football Playoff committee still showing an inconsistent track record on how much it rewards teams for brutal schedules, there’s not much incentive to make life harder than it already is.
It’s also a big reason Florida and Miami probably won’t meet in the regular season anytime soon under the current setup, even though that game would carry far more buzz than next year’s opener against South Alabama, followed by Charleston Southern.
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