Athlon Sports projects Florida's bowl game, opponent after Week 1
· Yahoo Sports
Week 1 of the college football season is on the books, and while there is still plenty left to play on the fall schedule, the sports media is already offering their early bowl projections for the upcoming postseason.
Visit biznow.biz for more information.
Among them is Athlon Sports, whose senior editor Steven Lassan offered his bowl game predictions following the first official week of the gridiron grind. Based on what he saw during the first weekend of September, Lassan forecasts a matchup between the Florida Gators and Michigan Wolverines in the ReliaQuest Bowl at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on New Year's Eve.
The Gators have never played in the ReliaQuest Bowl, but have played in its predecessor, the Outback Bowl, five times — including once against the Wolverines — holding a 3-2 record in the event.
Florida and Michigan have met five times before — all on neutral fields and four times in the postseason — with the Wolverines prevailing in four of those meetings. The lone victory for the Orange and Blue came in the 2018 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta by a final score of 41-15.
The first meeting between the two major state schools came in the Outback Bowl following the 2002 season, resulting in a 38-30 win for UM. The Gators and Wolverines then met in Orlando for the Capital One Bowl (41-35) and the Citrus Bowl (41-7) following the 2007 and 2015 seasons, respectively, before opening the 2017 campaign in Arlington in the AdvoCare Classic (33-17).
Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Athlon Sports projects Florida's bowl game, opponent after Week 1