Florida vs. FSU: Gators-Seminoles set for 8 p.m. kickoff on ABC

Florida’s trip to Tallahassee to take on Florida State on November 26 will kick off at 8 p.m. and be broadcast by ABC, the school announced early Sunday.

The selection comes as little surprise: Florida’s road games at Florida State are covered by the ACC’s broadcast deals with ABC and ESPN, and ABC has routinely aired Gators-Seminoles games over the years, most recently doing so in 2012, a 37-26 Florida victory.

ABC/ESPN also had a clear motivation to set Florida-FSU as its Saturday night game. The network will air a triple-header on Saturday, beginning with Ohio State-Michigan at noon, proceeding with USC-Notre Dame at 3:30, and concluding with the Gators taking on the Seminoles. The odd game out among those three is USC-Notre Dame — it’s the one that will not feature two ranked teams — and the 3:30 window is also brutally competitive, with CBS airing the Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn and ESPN broadcasting Duke’s trip to Miami. (Okay, just making sure you were awake.)

So ABC gets to air one of just two possible ranked vs. ranked matchups of the evening — Fox has the only other one, and it’s contingent on Utah remaining ranked for its clash with Colorado after falling to Oregon this Saturday — and keep it clear of the day’s most important competition for eyeballs.