Image Credit: UAA
After advancing to New Year’s Six bowl games in three straight years, the Florida Gators have barely slid into bowl season over the last two campaigns. However, the Gators did finish 6-6 making them bowl-eligible for the fifth straight year and 30th time in the last 32 seasons.
It had long been anticipated that Florida will go bowling against Oregon State (9-3) in the 2022 Las Vegas Bowl, and that’s exactly what was announced Sunday afternoon. Hosted at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada, the game is set for Saturday, Dec. 17 with 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff on ABC.
This will mark the first meeting between the Gators and Beavers on the gridiron.
Florida is 7-4-1 all-time against Pac-12 opponents with a win over Utah this season in UF’s first meeting with a team from that conference since 1989. This will mark the first time ever that the Gators will play two Pac-12 teams in the same season. Florida is 0-2 against Pac-12 teams in bowl games with losses to Washington (1989 Freedom Bowl) and UCLA (1987 Aloha Bowl).
The Las Vegas Bowl will be the farthest West the Gators have played a game since that 1989 Freedom Bowl in Anaheim, California. It is also the first time they will ever play a game in the state of Nevada.