Florida on Bye: My Thoughts on the Remaining Schedule for Gators

Florida on Bye Week

The Florida Gators sit at 5-2 going into their bye week and are riding high into after that exhilarating 41-39 come-from-behind road win over South Carolina. Before the season started, I predicted the Gators schedule and I had the Gators sitting at 6-1 going into the bye week, the lone loss being to South Carolina.

After finishing head coach Billy Napier’s first season with Gators at 6-7, this season has the potential to finish better than that, but the remaining schedule for the Gators is not easy. Before I get into my thoughts on the rest of the Gators schedule, two Gators were named SEC Players of the Week.

Two Florida Gators Named SEC Players of the Week

Before I get into my thoughts on the remaining schedule for the Gators, two Florida players were named SEC Players of the Week after their performances in 41-39 road win over South Carolina.

Florida Gators QB Graham Mertz was named SEC Player of the Week after throwing for a career-high 423 yards and three touchdowns.

Florida Gators kicker Trey Smack was named SEC Co-Special Teams Player of the Week (the second time this season Smack earned the honor) after making three of his four field goals with his lone miss being blocked, all three of his extra point attempts, and booting six of his ten kickoffs for touchbacks.

Those are much-deserved honors for Mertz and Smack and now here are my thoughts on the remaining schedule for the Gators.

Florida vs. Georgia (Jacksonville) 

Speaking of the Georgia matchup, Florida is set to take on the back-to-back national champion Georgia Bulldogs in Jacksonville next Saturday.

This matchup has been one-sided since 2017, as the Bulldogs are 5-1 against the Gators in that span, with the lone loss coming in 2020 to the Kyle Trask, Kyle Pitts, and Kadarius Toney-led Gators offense.

As for the matchup coming up next Saturday, Georgia has looked like, well, Georgia this year. Sure, they haven’t exactly played the best teams in the country, but they still have to win the games, and doing what they did to Kentucky in their 51-13 win was quite impressive considering what Kentucky did to Florida in Lexington a few weeks ago. 

Some significant news came out Monday regarding Georgia TE Brock Bowers, who is one of the best players in college football. Bowers sprained his ankle against Vanderbilt last week and had to have surgery, which will sideline him for up to six weeks, meaning the Gators will not be seeing him in Jacksonville. Bowers had a big game against the Gators a season ago in Georgia’s 42-20 win, catching five passes for 154 yards and a touchdown. 

The winner of this game becomes one step closer to clinching the SEC East and thus a spot in the SEC Championship, which has been a theme of the last decade or so between the two teams. 

I will have a more thorough preview of the Florida-Georgia matchup next week. 

Arkansas at Florida 

After the Georgia game, Florida returns to The Swamp to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks. 

This game has been circled by a contingent of Gators fans for a specific reason: for the first time in school history, Florida will be wearing all-black uniforms in honor of the Salute Those Who Serve weekend the University of Florida will be hosting.

Instead of nameplates of players’ names on the backs of the jerseys, the jerseys will have words such as commitment, courage, excellence, honor, and integrity on the back. 

Those black uniforms will then be auctioned off after the game and the proceeds will be donated to military families in need.

Coming home after the Georgia matchup will be huge for Florida because what lies afterward are two tough road games back-to-back.  

Florida at LSU 

Following the Arkansas game, Florida will hit the road for two weeks. First up is a trip to the ever-intimidating Death Valley (the real one, not the one Clemson allegedly has). 

I cannot even begin to describe just how weirdly fascinating the past decade of matchups between Florida and LSU have been. Between Florida Gators CB Marco Wilson’s shoe toss in 2020 that likely cost the Gators a chance to appear in the College Football Playoff and the eerie fog that resided over the entire game to Florida’s goal line stand in 2016 that sealed them a spot in the SEC Championship game, this matchup has simply been insane. 

Going into Death Valley and winning is one of the most daunting tasks any team in college football can do. The environment is hostile, and LSU normally plays very well in front of their home crowd. 

A season ago, LSU rolled into The Swamp and defeated the Gators 45-35. LSU QB Jayden Daniels played very well in that game a season ago and has been playing very well this season. Daniels will be the best QB Florida faces this year and that LSU passing offense is challenging to stop with WR Malik Nabers leading the group of playmakers on the outside. Daniels’ ability to use his legs in the running game makes it even more difficult to stop. 

I anticipate this game being a rock fight, but I can guarantee one thing, something strange will happen in this game at some point or another.

Florida at Missouri 

Following a tough road trip to Death Valley against LSU is another tough road trip for different reasons as the Gators travel to take on the Missouri Tigers. This game is still almost a month away, but I can almost guarantee it will be a Noon EST kickoff, which is an 11 AM local time kickoff in Columbia. 

Those 11 AM kickoffs have been a thorn in Florida’s side ever since Missouri joined the SEC back in 2012. Florida always starts off slow and given that they will either be riding high off an upset win over LSU or dragging their feet because of a loss, this game has ugly written all over it. 

Much like LSU, Missouri has an explosive offense, which is led by WR Luther Burden Jr., who will be a first-round draft pick in a few years. 

How the Gators respond to some early haymakers thrown at them by Mizzou will be telling of how the game will go. 

Florida State at Florida 

To end the season, barring any unforeseen Florida State collapses or losses, the Florida State Seminoles will be coming to The Swamp in the final game of the regular season undefeated, with a spot in the ACC Championship locked up, and a spot in the College Football Playoff likely locked up as well. 

When I wrote about this game in my pre-season preview, I compared it to the 1997 game which saw the Gators upset the Seminoles in The Swamp and prevent them from going to the national championship in consecutive seasons (in 1996 the Gators dominated the Seminoles 52-20 to win their first-ever national title in The Sugar Bowl). 

It will be senior day for the Gators and the Gators play a different brand of football in The Swamp under Billy Napier than they do on the road. 

That said, Florida State has one of the best WR duos in the entire country in Keon Coleman and Johnny Wilson, and a good QB in Jordan Travis throwing to them. Coleman is one of the best receivers in the country and will be a first-round draft pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Wilson towers over any corner that attempts to cover him and catches a plethora of one-on-one jump balls.  

Florida, depending on how the previous games go, will likely be playing for a bowl game or at least a “better” bowl game if they are still sitting at five or six wins.

It sure seems to me that this game feels a lot like 1997 in terms of what the teams will be playing for, but its ending the same way is certainly not guaranteed. Crazier things have happened though.