Florida Gators bowl game: Berth secured to face Tulane in 2024 Gasparilla Bowl

Football

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Image Credit: Bryce Mitchell, UAA

After missing out on a bowl game in head coach Billy Napier second season leading the team, the Florida Gators are back in the postseason after finishing 7-5 with three straight wins to conclude the 2024 campaign. As such, the Gators became bowl eligible for the 31st time in the last 34 seasons and learned their fate Saturday afternoon.

It an unanticipated assignment, Florida will go bowling against the Tulane Green Wave (9-4) in the 2024 Gasparilla Bowl held at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The game will be played on Friday, Dec. 20 at 3:30 p.m. ET and air live on ESPN2 — immediately preceding the first College Football Playoff game.

It was expected that the Gators would be playing in another bowl at the same site, likely against Michigan, but there was a lot of negotiating on behind the scenes, sources told Only Gators. It’s possible that Florida may have been positioned for a spot in the 2024 Liberty Bowl and declined to instead play closer to home at a game its fans were more likely to attend; however, it would have accepted a lower payout to do so.

The Gators and Green Wave have not met on the gridiron since 1984. Florida is 13-6-2 in the all-time series against Tulane, a founding member of the SEC that left in 1965. UF won the last 11 meetings from 1958-84.

Florida has not won a bowl game since 2019, losing its last three appearances by a combined 114-40 — all under various circumstances. Among those games was a 29-17 loss by UF to UCF in the 2021 Gasparilla Bowl.