One of the most intense meets of the regular season happens tonight as #6 Alabama hosts #3 Florida. Alabama had two rough meets last weekend, losing to Arkansas on Friday and then fighting back from multiple falls on bars to beat Auburn.

The setbacks allowed UCLA to surge ahead of them in the rankings, so now that they’re back home, they’ll want to once again reach for the 197 bar so they can stay in the game. A big win against Florida could put them back on track, but the Gators have been getting better and better with each meet, and still aren’t at full strength, so if anyone can win a tough conference battle on the road, it’s Florida.

There’s also going to be a pretty awesome must-watch MRGC fight between Boise State and Southern Utah in Boise. The two teams are currently tied for #11 in the rankings, and they’re both capable of mid-196 scores if they hit, so I’m excited to see who will come out on top in what’s sure to be a nail-biter.

Also in the south on Friday, #2 LSU hosts #11 Missouri, making it Tigers versus Tigers, though the ladies of Baton Rouge shouldn’t have any trouble making this win happen. We’ll also get an SEC match between #17 Auburn and #24 Arkansas, and between #9 Georgia and #10 Kentucky, which sounds close on paper and could also be close in the arena, but both teams are wildcards in terms of how they compete, so we’re either going to have a super tight race or a domination of one team by the other…though if Georgia hits beam, I’d give it to them.

Finally, #1 Oklahoma will host a quad meet that will also feature Big 12 rival #8 Denver, coming off of an unexpected loss after counting a fall on beam last week. The Pioneers will be no match for the Sooners here in OU territory, but hopefully Denver will be able to pick things back up and get back on track with big scores. #20 Nebraska and DII program #55 Texas Woman’s will also compete.

Saturday will showcase three west coast PAC 12 meets, with #4 Utah hosting #15 California while #5 UCLA travels to #50 Arizona State and #14 Oregon State travles to #27 Arizona. Utah, UCLA, and Oregon State should take the wins here, but I’m actually most excited to watch ASU continue to improve under new head coach Jay Santos. Last week at Cal, the Sun Devils made it almost all the way to the end of the meet without counting a single fall, which doesn’t sound like much, but compared to last season this is a huge gain and they showed off some beautiful skills and a renewed confidence in the process.

From the Big Ten, we’ll get #19 Ohio State hosting #46 Rutgers and #21 Illinois hosting #23 Minnesota. Ohio State was on fire last weekend on the road, so returning home with that on their minds could make for a great meet. Illinois has been itching to break 196 for the past three weeks, so I’m hoping to see them come through there, though Minnesota bested its season high by nearly two points last weekend, and will want to prove that their huge win at home was more than a fluke.

Sunday kicks off with #7 Michigan traveling to #44 Maryland, where the Wolverines will hope to keep their 197 streak going. #20 Nebraska will have its second meet of the weekend when they host Big Ten rival #22 Iowa, and #33 Stanford will hope to keep up with the improvements they made last weekend when they host PAC 12 foe #18 Washington.

Lastly, #16 George Washington hosts a triad meet on Sunday featuring #30 New Hampshire and #34 Ball State. GWU has this one in the bag, but I love watching some of the Wildcats on bars and beam, and Ball State has impressed me all season thus far, showing some unique skills and a much more consistent level of gymnastics than they were able to reach last year.

All times listed are ET, the first team listed is the host team, and we’ll update any links as they are updated on each program’s schedule. Once the meet is finished, we’ll replace the links with results. Enjoy!

Article by Lauren Hopkins