Florida Gators Football: Most Interesting NCAA Games in 2012 for the Team

SEC Commissioner Mike Slive released the 2012 SEC schedules on Wednesday morning, which revealed some compelling games for the Florida Gators.

The Gators will be a team coming off a disappointing season record wise, but the amount of young talent on this team is phenomenal. Next year, Florida should be much more competitive throughout their schedule even though they do draw some tough competition.

The inclusion of Missouri and Texas A&M into the SEC has thrown the normal rotation off some for 2012, but Slive has said that the conference will revisit the issue for 2013 and on. Schools should expect a permanent rotation to be set in place by 2013.

With all of that said, here are the most interesting games for the Florida Gators in 2012. 

Florida at Texas A&M--Sept. 8

The Florida Gators are the lucky team that gets to travel to Kyle Field and face Texas A&M in their first SEC football game.

This was a tough draw for a young Florida team, that although will be better than the Aggies in 2012, will face a hostile road environment at Texas A&M. And you can bet that crowd will be rocking for the start of SEC football.

Either Jacoby Brissett or Jeff Driskel will have to grow up fast in order to be prepared for that kind of road test. However, the presence of Florida in the state of Texas could be great exposure for the team in terms of recruiting. If the Gators can handle business at Texas A&M, they will set themselves up for a strong SEC run until they face LSU later in the season.

Florida at Tennessee--Sept. 15

The Gators will travel to Knoxville to face the Tennessee Volunteers this season. While the Gators have owned Tennessee for the last several seasons, Tennessee could be much improved next year.

Tyler Bray will have another year of experience and should continue progressing as a quarterback in the SEC. They will also be at full strength with both Justin Hunter and Da'Rick Rogers starting at wide receiver. 

The thing with Tennessee is that they were supposed to have improved this season, but they ended up only winning one SEC game and finishing with a very underwhelming record of 5-7.

However, you can throw the history books out the door when Florida and Tennessee get together. The Vols could definitely feed off the energy of the home crowd and give the Gators all they can handle.

Florida vs Missouri--Nov. 3

Florida is one of the few SEC teams that drew both of the incoming additions Missouri and Texas A&M. 

To start the month of November, the Tigers will travel to Gainesville to face the Gators.

Missouri has momentum heading into the SEC after routing their bowl opponent behind the outstanding performance of their young quarterback James Franklin.

While it's still a mystery of how Missouri will fare in the SEC, the trip to Gainesville will be a great test to see how good the Tigers really are. Florida's raucous crowd will welcome them to the conference I'm sure, but the Gators should be able to win this game.

It'll be a great night of football and a great night to welcome in a new conference member to The Swamp. 

Florida at Florida State--Nov. 24

The Florida-Florida State rivalry is among the fiercest rivalries in all of college football. 

The Gators had their way from 2004-2009, winning six straight against the Seminoles, but thanks to a resurgent FSU and two down years for Florida, the Seminoles have won the last two games.

Both teams expect to be much more of a factor in the BCS standings next season due to their youth gaining more experience. This game will once again be a defensive battle as both teams will return a majority of their defensive starters.

If the Gators can get better quarterback play in 2012, the outcome could be different for the Gators. However, FSU's defense could be the best in the nation next year and avoiding the injury bug will be huge for them. 

While I need to be careful in hyping up FSU too much—they haven't lived up to the hype lately—the Seminoles could very well be in contention for a BCS bowl by the end of the season next year.

I envision a crazy environment next year in Tallahassee as the Gators will have a tough game on their hands.