The Florida Gators will play the annual Orange and Blue Game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Thursday, April 13, according to an announcement from the team.
Further details such as kickoff time, streaming and broadcast information and fan initiatives will be announced in the future, but 247Sports is citing the athletic department on a tentative 7 p.m. EDT start. This will be the second-straight season that Florida plays its spring game on a Thursday.
Billy Napier moved last year’s O&B Game to the Thursday before Easter so students could attend the game and travel home for the holiday. That conflict shouldn’t come up this year with Easter coming on April 9, but UF opted to schedule the game on a Thursday anyway.
Orange & Blue Game 🔜
🗓 Mark your calendar for Thursday, April 13th.
🔗: https://t.co/s2Xz0sHDzY pic.twitter.com/3XYa4UdzIn
— Florida Gators Football (@GatorsFB) January 30, 2023
The UAA announced an attendance of 45,000 at last year’s Orange and Blue Game, so there clearly isn’t a big problem moving the game up a few days from the traditional Saturday spot. There is an argument that more people wanted to get a first look at Napier as a first-year coach in 2022, but the team is facing a large amount of turnover ahead of 2023 and should still warrant attention.
[autotag]Anthony Richardson[/autotag] dominated last season’s spring game, but this time it will be Wisconsin transfer [autotag]Graham Mertz[/autotag] and [autotag]Jack Miller III[/autotag] battling it out. Whoever performs better might wind up being Florida’s Day 1 starter in the fall.
Not everything that’s seen in the Orange and Blue Game sticks, though. Players opt to transfer after finding out their role on the team and getting some in-game action, and plenty of depth guys are getting looks during exhibitions like this.
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