Florida’s long-anticipated home-and-home with Notre Dame is off.
The Gators and Fighting Irish had announced in 2021 that they would meet for the first time in a two-game series, with Florida traveling to South Bend on Nov. 15, 2031, and Notre Dame coming to The Swamp on Sept. 11, 2032. That matchup is now gone after Florida canceled the series as the college football schedule continues to shift around it.
The timing makes the decision easier for Florida. With the SEC adding a ninth conference game and the College Football Playoff expanding to 24 teams beginning in 2027, the Gators no longer need to force the Notre Dame series onto the calendar. According to the Associated Press, Florida was able to back out without paying a financial penalty because of the added SEC game.
In practice, Florida appears to have made a choice to preserve its annual game with Florida State rather than keep Notre Dame on the schedule. And this may not be the last domino to fall, either, as other similar nonconference agreements could be in jeopardy.
Florida has already dropped several future series, including Texas for 2030-31 after the Longhorns joined the SEC, plus California in 2026-27, NC State in 2026 and 2032, and Arizona State in 2028 and 2031. The Gators are still scheduled to play Colorado in 2028-29, though that series is expected to be canceled as well.
The Florida-Notre Dame matchup had been a long time coming. Sources told Only Gators in late 2019 that the two schools had at least agreed in principle to the terms of a home-and-home series, and the games were officially announced more than a year later in February 2021.
It was also a rare kind of scheduling move for Florida. The Gators typically don’t line up nonconference games of that scale, especially not road games late in the season against opponents outside of Florida State. At one point, Florida had Notre Dame, Texas, Arizona State and Florida State on the 2031 schedule - four Power Four nonconference games in one year, including true road trips to two of the biggest names in college football.
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