Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — If you rank your Southeastern Conference rivalries strictly on entertainment value, the Florida-LSU game has to be near the top of the list.

The schools meet for the 69th time on Saturday night at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, including for the 52nd consecutive season. Florida owns a slight edge (33-32-3) in the series, but as UF fans know all too well, has lost three in a row to the Tigers.
 

Kyle Trask and Co. marched up and down the field until the end against the eventual national champions at Death Valley three years ago. Two years ago at The Swamp, Marco Wilson's shoe toss earned a place in the rivalry's lore. And last year in Baton Rouge, quarterback Anthony Richardson turned Gators fans into dreamers in Florida's 49-42 shootout loss.

In flipping through the back pages of this rivalry, Saturday's matchup has an uncommon turn in this colorful and sometimes teary affair. The Gators and Tigers have first-year head coaches at the time of their meeting, which has happened only one other time.

In 2005, first-year Gators coach Urban Meyer took his team to Baton Rouge to face the Tigers and their new coach Les Miles. LSU won 21-17 in a slugfest in which the Gators managed only 206 yards of offense. Meyer, pausing for more than 20 seconds during his postgame press conference, introduced Urban Crier as part of the game's lexicon.

Florida-LSU is never dull.

Meanwhile, that 2005 matchup that pitted Meyer and Miles against one another for the first time was a preview of big things to come. The two coaches won the next three national championships — Meyer in 2006 and '08 and Miles in '07.

When the Gators and Tigers clash Saturday night, Florida coach Billy Napier and LSU's Brian Kelly meet for the first time. Both took over programs coming off 6-7 seasons and far from the expectations of their rabid supporters.
 

Coincidentally, Napier and Kelly were linked together as potential candidates to replace fired LSU coach Ed Orgeron after last season. Napier was head coach at Louisiana and had strong ties to the state. Kelly was at Notre Dame and one of the game's most proven coaches.

Napier was asked Monday about those uncertain offseason moments and his rumored connection to the LSU job.

"I don't know that's something you talk publicly about,'' he said. "I think we're all well aware of chaotic times in college football when you get to November, December, January. I'll tell you one thing. I'm grateful for the opportunity I was given here. I can't imagine being at a much better place.

"This path was right. That's what I would say."

As we take a closer look at Saturday's game, here is a glance at the two first-year coaches:

(Note: Before becoming UF's athletic director, Bill Arnsparger was in his first season as LSU's head coach in 1984 when Florida and LSU tied 21-21 in the second game of the season; Galen Hall replaced Charley Pell as Florida's head coach two weeks later).
 

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CHARTING THE GATORS
 

CATEGORY	BILLY NAPIER	BRIAN KELLY
Birthplace	Cookeville, Tenn.	Everett, Mass.
Age	43	60
College	Furman University	Assumption College
Position	Quarterback	Linebacker
Head coach	5th season	32nd season
Career record	44-14	288-99-2
Previous HC jobs	Louisiana	Grand Valley State, Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Notre Dame
Highlight season	2021 — Finished 12-1, led Louisiana to Sun Belt Conference championship	2012 — Undefeated regular season, lost to Alabama in national championship
First coaching job	2003 — Graduate assistant, Clemson University	1983 — Defensive coordinator/linebackers at Assumption College
First SEC win	24-17 over Missouri last week	31-16 vs. Mississippi State on Sept. 17