Gators News: October 16, 2020

Florida’s football squad has been sidelined by a COVID-19 outbreak, while the cross country team travels to Alabama and soccer hosts Vandy.

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Typically on an October Friday, Gators fans are gearing up for their favorite football to take the field on Saturday, but alas, this is no typical Friday. Due to an outbreak of the novel coronavirus on UF’s football squad, its home game against the LSU Tigers tomorrow has been postponed until Dec. 12.

In the meantime, Florida’s biggest rival gets set to play in the biggest game of this season so far when No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 Georgia meet up in Tuscaloosa. More than just a potential preview of this year’s SEC championship game, the result of Saturday’s matchup will echo across the Power Five landscape and wield a heavy influence on the makeup of the College Football Playoff.

The Crimson Tide will likely be without coach Nick Saban due to a positive COVID-19 test, but he said Wednesday that says he’s ‘feeling great’ and would ‘hate’ to miss the game against the Bulldogs. Saban did not make any reference to the results of his daily test on Thursday but did seem to hold the door slightly open for a possible return to the sideline for Saturday’s game.

In Gators athletics news, the men’s and women’s cross country teams travel to Hoover, Ala., today to participate in the Blazer Classic, hosted by the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Florida joins Arkansas, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Middle Tennessee State, Mississippi State (women’s race), Ole Miss, Tennessee and Vanderbilt in the field of competition.

Coming up Sunday, the soccer team hosts the Vanderbilt Commodores in Gainesville. Florida leads the all-time series, 28-3-1, won their most recent meeting, 1-0, on Sept. 29, 2019 and carries a 1-1-1 record heading into their fourth game of the SEC-only schedule.

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