Florida Reportedly Cancels Series With Arizona State

The Sun Devils will need to find a new opponent in two different years in the future.

Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt (10) and Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham walk off the field after Texas won 39-31 in double overtime in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta on Jan. 1, 2025. | Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

TEMPE -- Kenny Dillingham and the Arizona State football program will seemingly have to schedule a new non-conference opponent in two distinct years moving forward.

The Florida Gators have seemingly become the first of potentially four SEC programs to wipe the Sun Devils from their future non-conference slate in response to the conference's move to schedule nine intra-conference battles starting in 2026.

Zach Goodall of Florida's 'Swamp 247' site reported that Florida is in the process of canceling a home-and-home series with the Sun Devils. The games were scheduled to be played in 2028 in Tempe and 2031 in Gainesville.

More from Goodall below:

Breaking: Florida has agreed to cancel its future series with Arizona State, and officially terminated two other home-and-home contracts, as it prepares for the SEC's nine-game league schedule, has learned.

The Gators cancelling the series was within their rights, as there was reportedly a clause that the team could back out of an agreement if the SEC moved to a nine-game slate. Florida will still be required to find another power four foe in both 2028 and 2031 - that opponent could be a lower-level program in the end.

Arizona State has a home-and-home schedule with Texas A&M beginning next September - it will be fascinating to see what comes of that arrangement. LSU and Texas are also on the slate down the road, but those programs would be less at risk to see a season go downhill due to a potential loss to the Sun Devils.

Dillingham and AD Graham Rossini's task will now be to find a suitable replacement in the power four ranks, as the Big 12 conference will surely have to schedule reasonably difficult non-conference games to have a shot at receiving multiple bids to the College Football Playoff under the current 12-team format.

As for the season at hand, Dillingham still has QB Sam Leavitt, WR Jordyn Tyson, and an incredibly deep defense at his disposal in pursuit of a second consecutive berth in the CFP. That pursuit continues tomorrow night against Texas State.

Read more on major takeaways from Arizona State's week two loss here, and on taking a dive into coach Dillingham's comments after the game here.

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