Florida Gators to host Colorado State Rams in 2018

By Kevin Kelley -

The Florida Gators will host the Colorado State Rams in 2018, per a report today by The Coloradoan.

Back in December when Florida hired Jim McElwain from Colorado State as their new head coach, the Gators agreed as part of the buyout to play the Rams between 2017 and 2020.

In addition, Florida agreed to pay Colorado State a $2 million guarantee for the game.

According to the game contract obtained by The Coloradoan, Florida will host Colorado State at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Sept. 15, 2018. The game will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools on the gridiron.

Colorado State is now led by head coach Mike Bobo, who played at the University of Georgia and then later served as the Bulldogs’ quarterback’s coach from 2001-06 and then as QB’s coach/offensive coordinator from 2007-14.

Florida now has two non-conference games scheduled for the 2018 season. The Gators are also slated to visit in-state rival Florida State to close out the regular-season on Nov. 24.

Colorado State now has three games scheduled in 2018. The Rams open the season against in-state rival Colorado in Denver on Sept. 1 and then host UTEP one week later on Sept. 8.

Football Schedules

Comments (6)

Will now be 27 years for the University of Florida since they left the state of Florida or the south for that matter for OOC. I know they play Miami and FSU, however those two programs were both very bad for nearly a decade after the early 2000’s. It’s ridiculous that they will not travel against another program other than a Florida school even when those schools were bad. When and if the SEC should go to a 9 game schedule, UF will never leave the state again.

What a stupid comment. Why is an OOC game against Florida State or Miami less difficult than an OOC team of equal caliber that happens to fall geographically outside the state of Florida? And why is OOC schedule so important? The entire schedule counts, so why would Florida need to beef up its OOC slate, when its conference schedule provides plenty of high level competition games? The SEC schedule Florida plays is significantly more difficult than a B1G or ACC schedule. According to Sagarin ratings, Florida’s SOS has not been rated lower than 22 since 2006, with an average SOS rank of 12, while Ohio State has not had a SOS higher than 29 (which was significantly aided by playing 2 playoff teams last season), averaging a SOS rank of 48. Also, Florida is slated to play a neutral site game against Michigan in 2017, making an already tough schedule even more difficult. As a Buckeyes fan whose team consistently feasts on the cupcakes that make up that conference, if I were you, I would take my weak schedule and shut my mouth.

Try looking on a map how far it is from Gainesville to south of Miami and get back to us. It’s a longer road trip than you think.

I like this match up but I would like to see a out of state home-and-home series for Florida against some big name opponent like Oklahoma or Texas. They should also have something in the books against UCF in the near or not to distant future.