This Florida football rivalry thrived as a result of conference realignment
Conference realignment seems to be the rage in college football of late as the Power Five groups continue to play a chess match against their FBS peers. A major impetus for this action stems from the departure of the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns from the Big 12 to the Southeastern Conference, starting a domino effect as others try to keep from falling behind.
With all the excitement in the air, The Athletic’s Scott Dochterman surveyed the history of realignments in college football and how they affected various rivalries. Among those mentioned was Florida’s long-standing affair with the Tennessee Volunteers, which headlined the list of games that thrived as a result of realignment.
Here is what Dochterman had to offer on the UF-UT series.
In the pre-divisional era of SEC football, there was no consistency with conference-wide scheduling. Tennessee-Florida is a great example, meeting just 19 times before 1990, including only four games between 1971 and 1990. Then when the SEC split into East and West divisions in 1992, Vols-Gators turned from irrelevance to appointment viewing. With Steve Spurrier at Florida and Phil Fulmer at Tennessee, the teams battled annually for the East Division title. Spurrier never lost to Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning and claimed the 1996 national title. The Vols finally dethroned the Gators in 1998 on their way to the inaugural BCS championship.
The Gators open up their 2023 schedule on the road against the Utah Utes on Aug. 31, with a kickoff time of 8 p.m. EDT set. Florida and Tennessee will face off this fall in Gainesville to open the SEC schedule on Sept. 16 with kickoff slated for 7 p.m. EDT.
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