During ESPN College GameDay on Saturday morning, co-host Rece Davis said the afternoon matchup between Texas and Florida had "GameDay implications," meaning if the Longhorns could just beat the 1-3 Gators, the show would likely be in Dallas next weekend. Instead, Florida halted its three-game losing streak against the lackluster Longhorns.
The Gators handled No. 9 Texas 29-21 inside The Swamp to put the Longhorns at 3-2 on the season and out of the top 10 after being preseason No. 1. Had Texas done what was expected, the Red River Rivalry between the Longhorns and No. 5 Oklahoma Sooners would have been a top-10 showdown ESPN couldn't ignore to send College GameDay to on Saturday.
Longhorns lose to Florida before playing Oklahoma
Florida had control of Texas from the beginning with an early 10-0 lead before the Longhorns finally put points on the board in the second quarter. With the loss, Texas is 0-2 this season against Power Four opponents after losing to Ohio State in its season opener.
Meanwhile, the Sooners improved to 5-0 with a 44-0 win over Kent State for a tune-up game in Norman before heading to Dallas. Although a blowout of the Golden Flashes is nothing to brag about, the Sooners do have two ranked wins against Michigan and Auburn as the Longhorns can't even beat unranked Power Four teams.
The 2025 edition of the Red River Rivalry was expected to be star-studded with Heisman hopefuls John Mateer and Arch Manning at quarterback. Mateer, though, injured his throwing hand in OU's win over Auburn and needed surgery, so his status against Texas is still unknown.
Manning, though, has just flat out not met inflated expectations. Mateer's status mixed with all the disappointment from Texas drove ESPN College GameDay elsewhere instead of the State Fair of Texas.
Now, ESPN will send the show to Eugene, Oregon, for a top-10 meeting between the Ducks and Indiana.
Next stop: Eugene, Oregon 🦆
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 5, 2025
See you soon for a top 10 matchup between the Hoosiers and the Ducks 🍿 pic.twitter.com/nII9xCJSx7
It would have been the second time this season College GameDay was present ahead of an OU game. The show was in Norman in Week 2, when the Sooners beat Michigan in a top-20 clash between two blue bloods. There will still be plenty more opportunity for OU to host College GameDay in 2025, though, especially with No. 4 Ole Miss coming to Norman on Oct. 25.
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