On Tuesday, Notre Dame and Florida announced that the two schools have agreed to a home-and-home series to be played in 2031 and 2032.
The Gators will visit the Fighting Irish first in November of 2031, with Notre Dame making the trip to the Swamp in September of 2032. Unless the two programs clash in a College Football Playoff game over the next decade, the 2031 meeting inside Notre Dame Stadium will be the first between the two schools since the 1992 Sugar Bowl.
At the time, it was the highest-scoring Sugar Bowl in the history of the game, with the 18th-ranked Irish rallying for a 39-28 win over No. 3 Florida on New Year’s Day. The total has since been topped on multiple occasions, including this year’s iteration, which saw Ohio State and Clemson combine for 77 points in one of the CFP semifinals.
NOTRE DAME VS. THE SEC
As noted, the Irish have faced the Gators, albeit once in the last 30 years. Florida is one of 10 SEC schools that ND has matched up against, leaving just Mississippi State, Kentucky, Auburn, and Arkansas on their to-do list. They’ve won 29 of their 49 games against SEC opponents in all, though their most recent did not go as they had hoped.
We mentioned the offensive onslaught in the Sugar Bowl this year, which capped off the CFP New Year’s doubleheader. The first game that day featured the Irish and Alabama in the Rose Bowl. The Tide, of course, rolled to a 31-14 victory en route to being crowned National Champions after taking down the Buckeyes on January 11.
FLORIDA VS NON-CONFERENCE
The Gators’ non-conference schedule appears locked in over the course of the next ten years, with this marquee attraction against Notre Dame likely being the most compelling. Florida, of course, will continue to square off against the likes of Miami, Florida State, and USF within the state of Florida, but they’ll also face non-traditional rivals like NC State, Arizona State, Colorado, Cal, Utah, and Texas.
That meeting with the Longhorns could contest the Notre Dame game as the most anticipated over the next decade, as UF and UT have not met since 1940. Florida will host Texas in September of 2030 before the Gators travel to face the Longhorns the following September.
The Gators are 0-2-1 all-time against Texas, with a 7-7 tie in 1924 and losses in 1939, both of which resulted in shutouts. The big news out of Austin this offseason was the hiring of Steve Sarkisian, who replaced Tom Herman as the new head coach.
2020 RECAP
As noted, Notre Dame advanced to the CFP after a 10-1 season that saw them appear in the ACC Championship, ultimately falling to Clemson, whom they defeated earlier in the year. The Irish will return to Independent play in 2021 after a one-year run in the ACC that saw them also beat the likes of Florida State and North Carolina.
Florida faltered down the stretch after winning eight of their first nine games, losing to LSU, Alabama in the SEC Championship, and Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl.
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