Tampa, Fla. – The Florida Gators just announced two future home and home series with Colorado and Texas in the last week. The big issue though is that the Colorado series won’t begin until 2028 and the Texas series won’t begin until 2030.
“One of the hard things that you do is trying to judge what the future of college football’s gonna be,” Florida head coach Dan Mullen said Wednesday at the Tampa Gator Club about the difficulty scheduling so far out.
Ten years down the road anything could happen. The playoff could be eliminated, Mullen might not be the head coach anymore, who knows what teams are going to hold the power in the sport and the game could look completely different.
Athletic Director Scott Stricklin has said on multiple occasions he would like to schedule games closer than a decade out, and they have tried doing so, but there are more hurdles than you might think.
“As you call people there’s a lot of people that are booked out way into the future,” Mullen said.
“And then you get into the issue. How’s the SEC schedule gonna work four, five or six years from now. I know what our position is right now as a league, and I think everybody’s very comfortable with that position right now.”
Once again the unknown is what makes things more difficult. It’s not that calls are not being made, but each program is trying to work through their own scheduling hurdles, which pushes possible matchups further back.
One aspect of the future both Mullen and Sticklin agree on is figuring this issue out and is a top priority.
“Scott and I, we’re looking at it saying okay, the future of college football one: those home and home games,” Mullen said.
“I think they possibly make it more attractive for people to come to the games and create that great game-day environment and it’s more exciting to see a different that maybe we don’t always see that maybe could be a really exciting opponent that could come play in the Swamp.”
The atmosphere and notoriety that comes with scheduling a big-name out of conference opponent not only helps the town and program, but it boosts the schedule as well. However, it does have the potential be a double-edge sword.
“I mean, we’re counting on that as to help your opportunity to make the playoffs in the future, that you’re playing a stronger schedule,” Mullen said. “And it’s not gonna get down to undefeated means you’re automatically in.
“But if you look last year I think Notre Dame went undefeated, there was a lot of concerns about their schedule and they got in. So, we’re judging that maybe in the future that’s gonna change. It’s such a hard, inexact deal. I think it’s stuff we’ve looked at trying to schedule games out in the future.”
As the search for an earlier than 2028 home and home series continues, the Gators have a lot to factor in order to find the right fit and move through with a deal. But Mullen seems optimistic and they are searching constantly for a great matchup.
“I think we’ve taken an aggressive scheduling approach for our fans and for our program,” Mullen said.
