Florida football's projected bowl game, opponent for 2026 postseason
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College football's bowl season is still five months away, while the start of the 2026 campaign stands seven weeks in the future. Nonetheless, Athlon Sports recently released its early predictions for the postseason schedule this winter.
The full projections for all 41 games penned by senior editor Steven Lassan include the Florida Gators, who missed out on bowl season last year and twice in the past three postseasons. Lassan sees them taking on the Penn State Nittany Lions in the ReliaQuest Bowl, scheduled for New Year's Eve at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
Florida has never played in the ReliaQuest Bowl, but has appeared in the previous iteration of the game. Back when it was called the Outback Bowl, the Gators participated in the in-state affair five times dating back to 2002. They played twice under Ron Zook (2002 and 2003) and Urban Meyer (2005 and 2010), and once under Jim McElwain in 2016.
As for Penn State, Florida has faced it thrice over the years — all in the postseason — winning all three matchups. The first meeting came in 1962, when the two schools clashed in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, which the Orange and Blue prevailed, 17-7, in a game with an interesting backstory.
The Nittany Lions, an independent team at the time, finished the regular-season schedule with a 9-1 record and did not want to play the 6-4 Gators in the bowl game. In an effort to rattle its opponent, UF emblazoned the Confederate battle flag on its helmets — a move that appeared to serve its purpose.
The two schools would later meet again in the Citrus Bowl in 1997 with Steve Spurrier at the helm for Florida and Meyer's second Outback Bowl appearance in 2010, notching 21-6 and 37-24 victories, respectively.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida football's projected bowl game, opponent for 2026 postseason
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