Florida football fans are already anticipating the 2026 season with high hopes and renewed vigor with Jon Sumrall taking over the program.
A passionate fan base is banking on it being out with the old and in with the new, as the Gators try to put a forgettable 2025 season behind them and start fresh. That fresh start in 2026 will, of course, include the annual Homecoming Game at a rocking Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, and on Thursday morning it was announced which game that will be.
The Homecoming matchup will take place on Saturday, Oct. 10, and the guest will be SEC rival South Carolina.
The Florida football social media account celebrated the big announcement with a post on Thursday morning that came complete with the Gator emoji:
Not surprisingly, Florida has been dominant in the past on Homecoming day, owning a sparkling 74-26-2 record in its Homecoming Game history. That high success on Homecoming has been ridiculously strong since 1989, with the Gators being 32-5 on Homecoming since then.
It wasn’t a dominant victory last year on Homecoming in Gainesville, but it was a victory nonetheless, with Florida holding on for a 23-21 win over Mississippi State.
The Homecoming tradition in Gainesville goes all the way back to 1916, and over a century later it’s still going strong.
There will be more information on the Homecoming festivities, including events leading up to the actual game, that will be announced in the near future.
The actual kickoff time for the Homecoming game against South Carolina has also yet to be announced.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
