Games to Watch with Florida Gators on a Bye

The Florida Gators are on its first bye week of the season, leaving a wide-open Saturday for Gator fans for the first time this season.

Well, at least for the ones still emotionally invested in the team after an abysmal 1-3 start to the 2025 season.

With Florida off, Florida Gators on SI gives three games, one in each time slot, to watch on Saturday with direct ties to the Gators.

Noon Slate: No. 22 Notre Dame @ Arkansas

Truth be told, there are no games during the noon slate on Saturday that have direct ties to the Gators, but there are a few with potential coaching candidates should Florida move on from Billy Napier that are on the noon schedule.

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman has been named by many Gator fans as a wanted replacement for Napier, and with the Fighting Irish's game at Arkansas being the only noon SEC game, at least there's a conference tie-in for the Gators in this matchup.

Television coverage is on ABC.

If you want other games to choose from, No. 16 Georgia Tech's game at Wake Forest (noon on ESPN), with another possible coaching candidate in Brent Key, or Syracuse's home game against Duke (Noon on ACC Network), with a potential darkhorse candidate in Fran Brown leading the Orange, are two others you can choose.

Afternoon Slate: No. 4 LSU @ No. 13 Ole Miss or No. 15 Tennessee @ Mississippi State

Before we start, let's move past the Lane Kiffin to Florida cries by Gator Nation, something that has been brought back from last season in the midst of Napier's latest struggles leading the program.

Should Florida pull the plug on the Napier era, Kiffin seems like a strong candidate, so there's at least interest there for this particular matchup.

That's also not even considering the fact that Florida travels to Ole Miss later this season. The Gators' 20-10 loss at LSU earlier this year also gives a baseline on what to expect down the road, depending on how the Tigers perform against the Rebels.

Florida travels to Ole Miss on Nov. 15.

Kickoff between the Tigers and the Rebels is at 3:30 p.m. on ABC.

Meanwhile, the matchup between the Volunteers and the Bulldogs is the only meeting between two of Florida's future opponents. The Gators host Tennessee for its final SEC regular season game on Nov. 22 and will play Mississippi State at home for homecoming on Oct. 18.

Tennessee will surely be favorites in the Swamp, but unranked Mississippi State is an interesting matchup for the Gators.

The Bulldogs are 4-0 entering conference play with an upset win over Arizona State in Week 2. With a strong playoff contender in Tennessee up next, Saturday's game will show just how "legit" Mississippi State is this year.

Kickoff is at 4:15 p.m. on SEC Network

Outside of that, early scouting never hurt anybody, and in Florida's case, early scouting cannot make an abysmal season any more brutal.

Evening Slate: No. 17 Alabama @ No. 5 Georgia

Alabama is in desperate need of a win over a high-ranked opponent, and Georgia is looking for revenge after their comeback bid last year fell short in Tuscaloosa.

Being the biggest game of this weekend's SEC slate already makes this an attractive game, and using the early scouting argument, getting an early look at Georgia won't hurt.

Kickoff between Alabama and Georgia is at 7:30 p.m. on ABC.