The Gators competed in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and played their home games at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus.

They finished with an undefeated 12–0 regular season, their first since 1995, but the Gators' 32–13 loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship Game derailed their national title hopes, and forced them to settle for a berth in the Sugar Bowl.

On December 26, 2009, Gators athletic director Jeremy Foley announced that Urban Meyer would step down as the team's head coach for health and family reasons.

[2] The following day, Meyer stated that he would instead take an indefinite leave of absence, allowing him to resume his position as the head coach.

One major loss was All-America wide receiver Percy Harvin, who opted to leave the University of Florida to enter the 2009 NFL draft.

The Gators received the highest ever percentage of preseason #1 votes in the history of the AP Poll, which began in 1950.

Tebow spent the night in a Lexington hospital;[8] returning two weeks later for Florida's 13–3 win at LSU.

In a rematch of last year's SEC Championship Game, the Crimson Tide handed the Gators their only loss of the season.