Having spent part of his football coaching career as an assistant in the Southeastern Conference, Idaho coach Paul Petrino is familiar with the different atmospheres at SEC venues.

So what’s his take on “The Swamp” at Florida, where Idaho (4-6) visits the Gators (7-3) today in the Vandals’ season finale?

“It’s one of the best SEC atmospheres there is,” said Petrino, who served a couple stints at Arkansas as offensive coordinator. “Some (places) are a little more rowdy, a little more angry at you. The swamp, their pretty angry at you. I’m not sure they’ll be angry at Idaho, but if you go in as Arkansas ... they get after you pretty good, they surround your bus and stop it and do the Gator Chop, and surround your golf cart as you’re going to the press box, stop it and do the Gator Chop ... it’s a really cool atmosphere to play in.”

For the Gators, and other teams in the SEC, this is somewhat of a “breather week” — a game against a lesser opponent a week before taking on your rival. Next week, Florida travels to Florida State. Today, Alabama tunes up for next week’s home matchup with Auburn by hosting The Citadel. Georgia plays UMass this week, then hosts Georgia Tech next weekend.

And on and on.

For Idaho, it’s a necessary evil — the Vandals need these “money” games to pay the bills. Idaho received the entire $975,000 from Florida for the 2014 game in Gainesville, even though the only play of the game was a kickoff return — lightning delays, coupled with rainfall, led officials to cancel the rest of the game.

Idaho will receive another $1.2 million from Florida for today’s game.

Idaho cornerback Dorian Clark, a fifth-year senior from nearby Jacksonville, Fla., said Florida was his “dream school” growing up. He remembers going to a Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville. He figures to have a handful of family and friends in the stands today.

“My mom’s going to be torn between her Gator gear and her Idaho gear,” Clark said.

Idaho wide receiver David Ungerer, also a fifth-year senior, remembered when he and his mother went to Gainesville when Alabama took on Tim Tebow and Florida, when Ungerer’s father was coaching at Alabama.

Last week, Florida quarterback Feleipe Franks rallied the Gators from a 31-14 deficit to a 35-31 victory over South Carolina. For the season, he’s passed for 17 touchdowns and thrown six interceptions.

The Vandals rank 94th in the Football Championship Subdivision in yards allowed (440.8 per game).

Florida is coming off a four-win season that led to the firing of former Eastern Washington quarterback Jim McElwain as head coach during the season. Dan Mullen, an offensive coordinator at Florida during the Tebow days, is in his first season as Gators head coach.

Petrino, in his sixth season at Idaho, has been through the drill with these money games. No matter the outcome, he tells his players to make the game one where they want to go to the team’s video coordinator afterward and ask for a copy of the game, so they can show it to their kids years from now.

“I remember when we played Florida State, we got beat pretty bad, and they went on to win the national championship,” Petrino said. “But we had three or four kids that had good games ... ”

“At the end of the day, it’s football,” Clark said. “Yeah, they’re great players, but what’s better than going up against great players, and see how you match up against them?”