During a simpler time as a student in Gainesville, a few of us got to host "Sports Scene" on AM850 when host Steve Russell was on the road or on vacation or sick. He knew we were all knowledgeable but that people would not call in because we were just students. To get callers, he made a point of having us throw out questions. (Or what I usually did, telling all of North Central Florida that Steve Spurrier was overrated. Good times!) One question was always the neutral site game. We bring it back today. Here are my suggestions, complete with location and reasons. Drop yours in the comments or in the poll. Remember the pros of the neutral site game are increased revenue (no student tickets sold below market value), increased exposure and giving Gator ex-pats a chance to see the team. Cons are less revenue for the concessions and Gainesville and losing home field advantage.
Gators vs...
Army (in Giants Stadium), Navy (Jacksonville), Air Force (Tampa, Orlando): Service academies would be fun, plus they usually have to play near military bases for travel. Playing Army in New York gives northern Gators a chance to see the team, plus exposure. Navy (in a huge Naval city) and Air Force (in cities near air bases) provide an interesting and compelling, if not competitive, game.
California (San Francisco): This is more because Cal is what UF aspires to be; a dominant public school in a great university system. If UF wants to compete with Cal, North Carolina and Texas to be among America's great public universities, the first place to start is in sports.
Georgia Tech (Atlanta): Restores an ancient rivalry when Tech was in the SEC and Atlanta is not a stretch for the Gators to travel. But Tech might not agree to play in a neutral site, with a neutral site financial cut, only a few miles from campus. The older Gators should get to see a home-and-home between these two before kick the bucket. Atlanta also has one of the largest UF alumni populations.
Notre Dame (Chicago): Another big market against a historic team. Plus, you make all the Irish fans crap themselves when they realize how much they are paying Charlie Weis to suck and Florida rolls 50 on them. Game would also expose SEC football to the talent in the Chicago high schools and show them the world beyond the Big Eleven.
Rutgers (Giants Stadium): Rutgers now has a decent on-campus stadium, and might turn down a neutral site game at Giants Stadium as they did for Notre Dame. But a package deal of two games or a future home-and-home might swing it. Plus, the New York media market.
Virginia or Virginia Tech (Washington): USC played at UVA and played VaTech in DC, so both teams have experience with out-of-conference games of this level. VaTech might be more likely because of their record of scheduling tough out-of-conference, LSU most recently. Big alumni base in Mid-Atlantic too.