Kickoff Time Set for Florida-Florida State in 2026

The Florida Gators' 2026 regular season finale at rival Florida State, which is scheduled to play on Friday, Nov. 27, will kick off at 3:30 p.m. with television coverage on ABC, the ACC announced on Tuesday.

The matchup, which will be played in Tallahassee, marks the first time the teams will meet on a Friday since 2022, a 45-38 win for Florida State.

Game time set ✍️#GoGators pic.twitter.com/98CEV7gZqv
— Florida Gators Football (@GatorsFB) May 12, 2026

The previously announced decision to play the game on a Friday rather than a traditional Saturday comes as the ACC embraces playing more games on Friday in an effort to overtake television windows. The Big 12 and the Big Ten have also joined the ACC in those efforts.

“You have to continue to modernize how you’re looking at scheduling,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said last season in an interview with The Associated Press. “You have to be honest with yourself about the compression that exists now on Saturdays with the number of games, and the number of quality teams that are playing all over. So there’s a limited number of windows, and you have a terrific partner with ESPN.

“Friday night has become something that people are now expecting to see football. ... So nothing stays the same in life. And we’re going to be aggressive there.”

Meanwhile, the SEC has remained adamant that the league will not schedule Friday night games. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, on Monday at the APSE's annual Southeast Region meeting, criticized leagues that do so.

“For everybody that thinks we just grab money, we could grab money just by putting games on different nights of the week,” he told reporters.

Florida last played a midweek game on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, at Utah to open the season and played two midweek games in 2022: Sunday, Oct. 2, against Eastern Washington as a result of a hurricane and the aforementioned Nov. 25 game against Florida State.

Last season, Florida snapped a three-game losing streak to the Seminoles with a 40-21 win to end the season. Jadan Baugh became Florida's first single-season 1,000-yard rusher in the win with a 266-yard, two-touchdown effort.

Florida Gators 2026 Schedule

Sept. 5: FAU (Gainesville, Fla.)
Sept. 12: Campbell (Gainesville, Fla.)
Sept. 19: @ Auburn (Auburn, Ala.)
Sept. 26: Ole Miss (Gainesville, Fla.)
Oct. 3: @ Missouri (Columbia, Mo.)
Oct. 10: South Carolina (Gainesville, Fla.)
Oct. 17: @ Texas (Austin, Tx.)
Oct. 31: vs. Georgia (Atlanta)
Nov. 7: Oklahoma (Gainesville, Fla.)
Nov. 14: @ Kentucky (Lexington, Ky.)
Nov. 21: Vanderbilt (Gainesville, Fla.)
Nov. 27: @ Florida State (Tallahassee, Fla.)

Sign up for our free Florida Gators newsletter and follow us on Facebook and X for the latest news!

Add us as a preferred source on Google