Florida vs. Oregon State: Kickoff Time Set for Las Vegas Bowl

The Gators and Beavers will meet for the first time in the 2022 SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl.

Photo: Billy Napier and the Florida Gators; Credit: Alex Shepherd

UPDATE: ESPN announced on Monday that the Las Vegas Bowl featuring the Florida Gators and Oregon State Beavers will kick off at 2:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. PT on Saturday, December 17. It will air on ESPN. 

The game was originally scheduled to broadcast on ABC at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT on the same day.

The NFL flexed December 18's Sunday Night Football bout between the Las Vegas Raiders and New England Patriots out of primetime on Monday, forcing the bowl game to move back as both matchups will be held at Allegiant Stadium. The Raiders and Patriots will kick off at 4:05 p.m. ET/1:05 p.m. PT on Sunday.

And, to address the note at the end of the story, quarterback Anthony Richardson, defensive lineman Gervon Dexter and right guard O'Cyrus Torrence have each declared for the 2023 NFL Draft since Florida was named to the Las Vegas Bowl. 

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Billy Napier's first bowl game in charge of the Gators will take place in the Entertainment Capital of the World, as Florida (6-6, 3-5 SEC) is set to take on the Oregon State Beavers (9-3, 6-3 Pac-12) in the 2022 SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl, according to Brett McMurphy of Action Network. 

The matchup in Sin City will mark the first between Florida and Oregon State football in history. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT on Saturday, December 17, 2022. It will air on ABC from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev.

The Las Vegas Raiders are scheduled to take on the New England Patriots at Allegiant Stadium the next day, December 18, at 8:20 p.m. ET. If that matchup was to be flexed out of Sunday Night Football to an earlier kickoff as Week 14's bout between the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos was, the Las Vegas Bowl would move to 2:30 p.m.ET/11:30 a.m. PT on Saturday and broadcast on ESPN.

The Gators secured bowl eligibility following their Week 11, 38-6 victory at home over the South Carolina Gamecocks. The team struggled down the final stretch of the campaign, though, dropping its next two games to Vanderbilt and Florida State on the road to conclude the regular season with a .500 record for the second year in a row. 

While Napier was pleased that the Gators were able to secure a postseason berth, the first-year SEC head coach made note of his "bigger aspirations" than bowl eligibility in November as he attempts to rebuild the program from the ground up.

“Those are things that are good. I’d like to think about going to bowl, but I’m not really worried about a bowl game," Napier said on November 12 following the win over South Carolina. "I’m worried about getting that group to keep improving. 

"It’s not how we do it. You get consumed with the things that you can do better — being more efficient, having better relationships, better communication, better fundamentals, all these things that contribute to winning.”

As Florida begins to prepare for its final opponent of the 2022 season, all eyes are on a handful of contributors who could reasonably elect to bypass the bowl game with their football futures demanding attention.

13 players have already announced their intentions to enter the transfer portal following the season, several of which departed from the team in recent weeks. Starting wide receiver Justin Shorter also declared for the 2023 NFL Draft and shared his plans to skip the bowl game this past Thursday. 

Will quarterback Anthony Richardson, defensive lineman Gervon Dexter and right guard O'Cyrus Torrence — considering their expected interest from NFL squads this offseason — follow in Shorter's footsteps or stick with the team at least through the postseason, if not for another year? 

The answer to that question should become clear in the next 13 days.

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