GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
I’m wondering how Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin and Gators’ football coach Billy Napier feel about “scheduling inequity” on Saturday as they venture into Tiger Stadium to play No. 3 LSU (6:30 p.m., ABC).
“Scheduling inequity” was a cute phrase popularized by then-LSU athletic director Joe Alleva about a decade ago as he tried to convince then-Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive and the world that the awesome LSU-Florida rivalry should be stopped from happening annually. Alabama, he argued, did not play Florida annually, and that was unfair in his mind.
Never mind that Alabama did annually play Tennessee, and SEC East powers Florida and Tennessee swapping out SEC West powers LSU and Alabama was indeed fair minded and common sense scheduling with history in mind. Tennessee and Florida had been basically equals since the SEC went to divisions in 1992. And Alabama had always played Tennessee every year since before divisions, as LSU had been playing Florida annually for decades well before divisions.
Tiger Rag Magazine picked quite a pair for its first issue on Sept. 1, 1978:https://t.co/AbvjdCrVth
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) September 12, 2025
At the time, LSU football coach Les Miles was also against playing Florida annually, often criticizing how far away the two campuses are (about 600 miles). Never mind that Louisiana and Florida are basically border states as only slivers of Mississippi and Alabama separate the two by about 200 miles. LSU and Florida has always been a geographically natural annual game.
IT’S A GOOD THING JOE ALLEVA NEVER WAS ABLE TO GET RID OF LSU-FLORIDA AS ANNUAL GAME
And it has also been the best SEC West-SEC East game annually for the most part since 1992 with some truly great games. At the time not playing Florida became Alleva’s and Miles’ obsession, the rivalry was coming off five games from 2004-14 that were decided by four points or less, and LSU won all five. What were Alleva and Miles thinking?
The real reason Alleva and Miles didn’t want to play Florida at the time was because they were transferring blame as they were tired of annually losing to Alabama, which had happened in the 2011 national championship game and again in 2012, ’13 and ’14 and ’15. They were also sick of seeing Alabama win national championships in 2009, ’11, ’12 and ’15. They figured, if LSU can’t beat Alabama, maybe somebody else can. So change the schedules.
The soul of LSU’s rebuilt offensive line expected to play Saturday vs. Florida.https://t.co/zhQYPfX2qF
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) September 11, 2025
“LSU has played Florida and Georgia a combined 19 times since 2000 in the regular season, while Alabama has played Florida and Georgia a combined eight times,” Alleva argued to the SEC before the 2014 season.
Yes, Joe, but Alabama played Tennessee (14) and Georgia (4) a combined 18 times since 2000 in the regular season, while LSU played Tennessee and Georgia only nine times. That’s pretty even.
“I’m disappointed in the fact that the leadership of our conference doesn’t understand competitive advantage and scheduling inequity,” Alleva said after the then-14 SEC school presidents voted to keep the West-East permanent opponents by 10-4. “People voted for their own self-interest.”
Yes, Joe, and so did you, Miles and LSU. They didn’t understand scheduling.
THE LSU-FLORIDA SCOUTING REPORT
The funny thing about Alleva’s and Miles’ ridiculous effort to get rid of a rivarly as great as LSU-Florida was at the time was how so many writers covering LSU at the time agreed with him without realizing how he obviously manipulated the numbers involving LSU and Alabama schedules. And they pushed Alleva’s inaccuracies. That and the fact that LSU had beaten Florida in six of the previous 10 games while Alleva was making his passionate pleas.
Since 2013, LSU is 9-3 against Florida. The Tigers had won five straight before last season. Perhaps Alleva and Miles should have been more focused on Alabama in their final years at LSU than dabbling in scheduling, because Florida has not been a threat to anyone for the most part since Urban Meyer left after the 2010 season.
And I wonder what Alleva and Miles would think about “scheduling inequity” now.
Florida currently has the No. 1 remaining strength of schedule by ESPN’s Power Rankings as it plays the following:
at No. 3 LSU tonight
at No. 5 Miami (2-0), Sept. 20
No. 7 Texas (2-0), Oct. 4
at No. 16 Texas A&M (2-0), Oct. 11
Receiving Votes Mississippi State (2-0), Oct. 18
No. 6 Georgia (2-0), Nov. 1
at Kentucky (1-1), Nov. 8
at No. 17 Ole Miss (2-0), Nov. 15
No. 15 Tennessee (2-0), Nov. 22
No. 10 Florida State (2-0), Nov. 29
Meanwhile, LSU is in the SEC but does not play Texas, Georgia or Tennessee from the SEC this season, same as last season when Florida also played all three. Now, that’s living right. Yes, Alabama’s on the schedule, but that’s not Alabama anymore.
LSU has dominated Florida for years. Why the hate? The Gators have been basically toothless since Urban Meyer left. https://t.co/ItvgLsGxXc
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) September 10, 2025
The Tigers have the No. 13 remaining strength of schedule. Their only remaining ranked opponents are No. 17 Ole Miss away on Sept. 27, No. 11 (and overrated) South Carolina (2-0) on Oct. 11 after an open week, No. 16 Texas A&M on Oct. 25 and No. 19 (and overrated) Alabama away on Nov. 8.
That’s pretty equitable.
It was the same way last year. Florida had the No. 1 strength of schedule in 2024 with losses to No. 19 Miami, No. 8 Tennessee, No. 2 Georgia and No. 5 Texas and wins over No. 22 LSU and No. 9 Ole Miss.
Schedule equitability tends to even out over time. And right now for LSU, the living looks more equitable than many, if not easy.
Fired Man Walking … “When adversity hits, you need to elevate. Definitely don’t need to shrink back”
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) September 11, 2025
Is Billy Napier talking football or Viagra?https://t.co/88hmGmsryy
Amid Florida’s week-to-week lack of equity, wheels are turning to prepare for a likely firing of coach Billy Napier after an upset, 18-16 loss to 17-point underdog South Florida last week. But even if Florida was 2-0 right now, it would be difficult for Napier to navigate what lies ahead well enough to win seven games.
Meanwhile, LSU and coach Brian Kelly are a touchdown favorite against Florida and could be favored in all remaining games with the exception of possibly Ole Miss. That is, if LSU gets by what could be an emotional Florida team playing like there’s no tomorrow tonight.
If LSU somehow loses, it will erase all the “equity” earned in the win at Clemson.
And somewhere out there, Joe Alleva will be laughing, but still wrong.
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