GAINESVILLE, Fla. _ The buzz is already building around Florida as the No. 10 Gators prepare to host No. 7 Auburn in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium's first top-10 matchup since 2012.
ESPN's College GameDay will be in town. So will CBS' top crew for the national 3:30 p.m. game. UF will be wearing retro, Steve Spurrier-era uniforms to commemorate the occasion.
One other reason for the hoopla: This is a rare meeting between two semi-rivals who should be playing more often.
"The last time Auburn came to The Swamp was 2007," Mullen said. "I think for the fans and for the players to have these games be played more often would be benefit for everyone."
Monday wasn't the first time Mullen has been critical of the SEC's scheduling model. Seven of each team's eight conference games are fixed matchups. The final one is a rotating, cross-division game that keeps the Gators away from regular meetings with teams like Alabama and Ole Miss. UF hasn't faced Auburn since 2011.
"If you look over the next six years, I think we play Miami (two) times, Florida State six times, South Florida three times, Mississippi State once..." Mullen said last week.
"I think it's an injustice for the kids. We should mix those games up, and you should play more teams from the West and get the opportunity to play more SEC games."
One obvious loser with the current scheduling model is the UF-Auburn series that dates back to 1912. The Gators consider the Tigers their oldest rival, and some of the previous meetings have been classics.
Spurrier's 1966 performance won him the Heisman Trophy and is still one of the best games in state history. Kerwin Bell led a big comeback 20 years later. Auburn upset a top-five UF team three times from 2001-07.
Florida's Tony Joiner (19) jars the ball loose from Auburn's Tommy Trott (5) for a fumble near the goal line in the first half of a 2006 game. (Times)
Besides reviving history and diversifying players' experiences, there's another reason why the SEC should change its philosophy: Attendance is slipping across the country.
UF's announced attendance last week against Towson (79,126) was the smallest for a Gators home game since 1990. The Auburn game is sold out.
The direct comparison isn't fair; a top-10 matchup will obviously draw a larger crowd than a Division I-AA game. But Mullen said varying the opponents could add an extra incentive for fans looking for something different.
"I think these games show one of the benefits of playing a more diverse schedule because I think there is going to be a lot of excitement to come here and see this game," Mullen said. "Nobody has seen Auburn in The Swamp since 2007. They've seen a lot of teams over and over in The Swamp but not Auburn since 2007. And so I think that is a big draw that everyone will look at, maybe, and say, 'OK, this is a better way to do it.'"
