Which bowl game does The Athletic predict for Florida football?

After falling short of the six-win minimum to secure bowl eligibility in 2025, The Athletic projects Florida to return to bowl play in Jon Sumrall's first year.

Scott Dochterman took his shot at predicting every bowl matchup as the 2026 season gets underway, and he has Florida facing Duke in the Gasparilla Bowl on Dec. 18 in Tampa. Florida has played in the Gasparilla Bowl twice over the past five years, falling to UCF in 2021 and beating Sumrall's transfer-depleted Tulane squad in 2024.

Being in Florida, the Gasparilla Bowl would present a home-field advantage for the Gators. Dochterman also toyed with the idea of Steve Spurrier doing the coin flip between two of his former programs. Spurrier reached the top of the mountain at Florida, but his first college head coaching job came at Duke.

Despite Sumrall's public desire to compete for an upper-tier bowl selection, or even a College Football Playoff appearance, simply reaching bowl eligibility would be a sign of improvement for Florida in Year 1. The Athletic's Seth Emerson recently projected a 7-5 finish for Florida but noted that eight to 10 wins isn't completely out of reach.

Dochterman projected four SEC teams to make the CFP: Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma and Texas. Three of those teams are on Florida's schedule this season, with Alabama being the exception. He also has Ole Miss landing in the Citrus Bowl, LSU going to the Las Vegas Bowl, Tennessee to the ReliaQuest Bowl and Auburn to the Music City Bowl.