Florida-FSU football game moving to Friday night this year

Billy Napier’s first experience with a major, in-state rivalry game will come a day earlier than expected.

Florida and Florida State will play their football game this year on a Friday night.

The game will be played Friday, Nov. 25 — Black Friday — at Doak Campbell Stadium. The game is expected to be nationally televised.

The game was originally on the schedule for Nov. 26. The full ACC schedule will be released later Monday night.

It’s also scheduled on a high intensity playoff night in high school football. The third round of the state playoffs was on that night last season.

The Gators have won the last three games in the series, including a 24-21 game last November that clinched bowl eligibility for Florida and kept Florida State out of a bowl game. Florida finished 6-7 and lost to UCF in the Gasparilla Bowl. The Gators hired Napier to help them rebuild the program.

Florida State’s full schedule was released Monday and it includes a Sunday game on Sept. 4 against LSU in New Orleans and a Friday matchup at Louisville on Sept. 16.