Florida coach Dan Mullen has long been a critic of the SEC scheduling model, which includes a permanent crossover opponent. This year, the Gators will play Alabama for the first time outside of Atlanta since 2014, and the programs haven’t met in Gainesville since 2011.

Of course, the crossover format is in place for natural traditional rivalries like Alabama-Tennessee and Auburn-Georgia, for example.

“I think it’s really exciting,” Mullen said of the Alabama game. “I’d love to maybe do away with the permanent crossover team and so you get these types of games more often. I think for the players, for the fan bases, I really think it’s exciting to see some more of the — of maybe mixing up the teams from the West and maybe playing two different teams each year instead of a permanent crossover. I think that’d be really exciting because you get these matchups.”

Alabama will visit the Swamp on Sept. 18, and it will be the 3:30 p.m. ET game on CBS.

“It’s going to be an exciting day, it’s going to be a great atmosphere, it’s going to be a fun game to be a part of,” Mullen said. “You look to see that more. There’s teams that will visit that — there’s non-conference teams that are going to visit the Swamp a lot more than conference teams, and I think you’d love to see maybe a better rotation of those teams.”