Florida football schedule 2020: Texas A&M, Arkansas added to Gators’ 10-game slate

By Adam Silverstein
August 7, 2020
Florida football schedule 2020: Texas A&M, Arkansas added to Gators’ 10-game slate
Football

Image Credit: UAA

If a 2020 college football season is played, the Florida Gators and the rest of the Southeastern Conference will have the largest league schedules they’ve ever played on their hands. The SEC decided last week to play a 10-game, conference-only schedule this season, meaning each of its teams needed to add two cross-division opponents to their normal eight-game league schedules.

Those additional games were announced Friday.

Florida has added a road game at Texas A&M and home game vs. Arkansas to its schedule for the 2020 season. The Gators last visited the Aggies in 2012 and last hosted the Razorbacks in 2013.

In a unique twist, long-time Florida quarterback Feleipe Franks, who graduate transferred to Arkansas in the offseason, will get to play one last game inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium before his career is out.

The UF-TAMU matchup also pits Florida against its former rival in ex-Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher, who now leads Texas A&M. The last time the Gators and Aggies squared off in College Station, Florida earned a big win over future Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel.

Considering the Gators were the only team in the SEC that had three of its five potential new opponents as ranked teams, Florida should be considered a winner with these additions — even though it has to play Texas A&M on the road. It avoided potentially more difficult opponents in Alabama and Auburn and exits the scheduling process with a College Football Playoff-friendly slate — well, as friendly as an SEC schedule can be — which is key for its postseason aspirations.

LSU is the Gators’ regular cross-division rival, while Ole Miss was their previously scheduled rotational opponent.

Complete schedules with dates, kickoff times and television information are not yet available. They are expected to be announced next week. For now, let’s take a look at the Gators’ upcoming opponents.

Home: Kentucky, South Carolina, LSU, Missouri, Arkansas
Away: Tennessee, Ole Miss, Georgia (Jacksonville), Vanderbilt, Texas A&M

“The SEC office and Commissioner [Greg] Sankey have worked tirelessly to help its member schools and our student-athletes move forward given unprecedented circumstances; from putting together detailed medical plans, guaranteeing scholarships for athletes that wish to opt-out, to plotting a course for what seasons and schedules could look like,” said UF athletic director Scott Stricklin. “Given all the unknowns we face, today’s announcements regarding the SEC’s initial COVID-19 management requirements, along with the identification of tow additional opponents in football, provide a solid framework in the hope the Gators are to compete in a healthy environment at some point in the 2020-21 school year.”

The SEC announced earlier Friday that it will mandate two COVID-19 tests for players and coaches each week, likely six and three days ahead of kickoff. The conference is also investigating adding a third, rapid test that would be administered closer to the games.

Players will be asked to pull up required neck gaiters when the ball is not in play, and all persons on the sideline will be wearing masks or neck gaiters while socially distancing as much as possible given the confinements of the field.

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