Breaking Down Florida's Recent Season-Opener History

The Florida Gators are officially in game-week-mode as the 2025 season-opener against Long Island is less than a week away.

"Obviously excited about being back at Ben Hill Griffin and Steve Spurrier Field in The Swamp," head coach Billy Napier said Monday. "13-straight sell outs and we're certainly thankful for the support and excited about the atmosphere that will come with a home-opener, and our players and staff are really excited about the opportunity to compete. I think in the game of football you spend a ton of time preparing, and that these things are precious, and we certainly look forward to it. "

With that said, Florida Gators on SI takes a look at how they have fared in season openers over the past decade.

Overview

It has been mostly positive over the past 10 seasons for Florida. They are 7-3 and have an average margin of victory of 9.3 points. That includes wins over Utah, Ole Miss and Miami. However, under Napier, they are just 1-2. He has also coached one of the worst season-opening losses in program history with the 41-17 defeat to Miami in 2024.

Under Billy Napier 1-2
Overall, 7-3
Margin of victory - 9.3 (93/10)

Fluctuating Success in Last Five Seasons

From 2018 to 2022, the Gators won five straight season openers. In 2019, they exited Camping World Stadium with a 24-20 win against in-state rivals Miami. Quarterbacking the Gators that game was Feleipe Franks, who finished with 254 passing yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. 159 of his yards were split between two receivers as Josh Hammond hauled in four passes for 93 yards, while Kadarius Toney had one reception for 66 yards and a touchdown.

The strongest win of this stretch came in 2020. In a shortened, conference-only season thanks to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Gators had to travel to Oxford to take on the Ole Miss Rebels. They left Vaught-Hemingway Stadium with a 51-35 victory.

There were two heroes that day for the Gators in the dynamic duo of quarterback Kyle Trask and tight end Kyle Pitts. Trask aired the ball out for 416 yards and six touchdowns while completing 30 of 42 passing attempts. Then, accounting for 170 yards and four of Trask’s touchdowns was Pitts, which included a 71-yard receiving touchdown.

Finally, in 2022, the Gators thwarted Utah in the Swamp. This was Napier’s first game as the Gators' head coach, and it was arguably his most nerve-wrecking, exciting win of his tenure. It was a back-and-forth affair that went down to the final seconds.

After Anthony Richardson and the Gators marched 75 yards down the field in 14 plays for a touchdown and a 29-26 lead, leaving then-No. 7 Utah with 1:25 to tie or recapture the advantage.

In response, Utah swiftly drove the ball down to the Gators' six-yard line with just 24 seconds remaining. Despite the nervousness felt around the stadium, linebacker Amari Burney sealed the deal for the Gators with a game-winning interception in the end zone that sent the crowd into a frenzy.

Amari Burney called game pic.twitter.com/8CMog8Dfpk
— Nick de la Torre (@delatorre) September 4, 2022

The other win in this period, which was sandwiched between the Ole Miss and Utah contests, was a 35-14 victory over FAU.

Since then, though, it has been a sight for sore eyes for Gators fans. They stumbled in the opener 24-11 in 2023 against Utah, and were thrashed 41-17 in 2024 by Miami.

Heading into 2025

Luckily for Napier, he will have a much easier opponent in 2025 to help build his team’s confidence and rhythm in Long Island. However, he explained Monday that the program was not focused on the difference between playing the Sharks versus a top 25 program.

"I think obviously there's human nature in general, there's some differences, but I think for us, we're going to be focused on what we do throughout the week," he said.

Florida's season-opener against LIU on Saturday kicks off at 7 p.m. with streaming coverage on SEC Network+.

Overview

Fluctuating Success in Last Five Seasons

Heading into 2025

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