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After news began to make its way out earlier this week, the two schools confirmed it on Friday: the Florida Gators and Utah Utes will play a home-and-home in 2022 and 2023.
Both programs shared information about the upcoming games on Twitter:
Future awaits…
? – 2022 in Gainesville
✈️ – 2023 in Salt Lake CityDetails: https://t.co/0xAUXOG9cg #GoGators pic.twitter.com/nKXO0NvoOW
— Florida Gators Football (@GatorsFB) September 27, 2019
Home & home with @GatorsFB. Coming soon. pic.twitter.com/aZRZAH7IWs
— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) September 27, 2019
The Gators will host the first game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in 2022, with the return game being at Rice-Eccles Stadium in 2023.
Known for both being coached by Urban Meyer, these two programs have met once before – a 38-29 Florida win in Gainesville in 1977.
Scheduled to be the first game against a Pac-12 opponent since 1989 for Florida, the Gators are 6-4 all-time vs. teams from the “Conference of Champions.”
Addressing the topic back in March, head coach Dan Mullen stressed the importance of these type of matchups for recruiting purposes.
“We want to make sure we keep enough home games here in the Swamp for our fans to come see our guys play. This is one of the great stadiums in college football, to make sure we are playing enough games in there. And so I think that’s what’s always tricky. We always try to do what’s best for the program and play games that fit the program. I’ve always been under that deal. I love, I want to do what we think is best for the program.”
To date, Florida has future home-and-homes scheduled with Miami (2024 & ’25), Colorado (2028 & ’29) and Texas (2030 & ’31). The Gators are also playing a “two-for-one” with the USF Bulls; Gainesville in 2022 and 2025, Tampa in 2023.
Ranked No. 9 in the country, the Gators (4-0) host Towson (3-1) on Saturday (4:00PM ET, SEC Network).
A graduate of Bowling Green State University, Teddy Rydquist has been contributing to Saturday Down South and Saturday Tradition since 2019. In addition to his work here, he has covered the Michigan Wolverines for GBMWolverine and Wolverine Digest. He can be found on Twitter @TeddyRydquist.
