Post-Bye: How Gators Have Performed Following Week of Rest
The Florida football team is coming off of its first bye week of the 2025 season and is looking to bounce back following a 26-7 loss to No. 3 Miami, which dropped Florida to 1-3 for the first time since 1986.
With six ranked opponents remaining on Florida’s schedule, the bye came at a perfect time. But will it help? Let’s look at past seasons.
In the last 11 years, the Gators are 7-6 following a bye week, with each loss coming against Georgia.
Loading ...It is safe to say that the program has experience in facing a ranked SEC opponent following an idle week. Entering four of Florida’s six losses, the Bulldogs were ranked No. 7 or higher in the Associated Press poll, and in half, Georgia was the top team in the nation. The Gators’ post-bye opponent this week, the Texas Longhorns, are ranked No. 9.
Florida does have some recent success following a bye week, beating UCF 34-13 after its first bye of the 2024 season.
The Gators have five SEC wins following a bye week in the past decade, two coming to the demise of Missouri. The most recent win came in 2020, after the Gators had back-to-back games postponed due to COVID-19. Following two straight play-less weekends, the No. 13 Gators beat the unranked Tigers 41-17 at home. Four years earlier, Florida beat the Tigers again post-bye in 2016, a win highlighted by pick-sixes by former Florida stars Quincy Wilson and Teez Tabor.
The remaining three SEC wins came between 2014 and 2016, each against the Bulldogs, which are the last time that the Gators beat the Bulldogs in consecutive seasons.
If the Gators (0-1 SEC) beat the Longhorns (3-1, 0-0) this Saturday, it would be the first time they have defeated a ranked team coming out of a bye since 2014, when they upset a No. 11 Georgia team 38-20. Kickoff for the Gators’ first SEC home against Texas is set for 3:30 p.m. (ESPN, 98.1-FM/103.7-FM/850-AM WRUF).
Category: College Football, Gators Football, NCAA, SEC
