- Oct 5, 2017
- 2,315
- 6,297
Welcome to GatorTruth's breakdown of the 2019 Schedule. These will be a brief take on each team, some more brief than others. I will be brief, but will discuss further in comments if you want.
Miami:
This game in Orlando is HUGE. Winning is the only option. To lose and I think we may be looking at a 2013 again, the last time we lost to Miami. As someone who has attended every UF-Miami game since 2002, I really do not like Miami and have experienced the wrong side of the rivalry too much.
Anyways, can you give me one impressive win for Miami in 2018? A 7-7 Pitt team that got wrecked by UCF and others? A Va. Tech team that lost to Old Dominion? FSU with a losing record?
Meanwhile, against two real teams, we will call them LSU and Wisconsin, those games inspired several episodes of Law & Order: SVU in the past few months. Miami had a good looking front seven against a bunch of mediocre teams, but again, the train that ran through them against two real opponents gives me hope. Throw in their offensive line problems and our aggressive defense and we should have an advantage. The question will be how good really is their front seven and what is the status of our o-line. Although I trust Dan Mullen to scheme around o-line problems more than Enos.
Florida over Miami
UT-Martin:
Should score 50, failure to score 50 will be an embarrassment.
Florida over UT-Miami
Kentucky:
Revenge game, something many of us didn't say. Kentucky has lost a ton of talent and seniors. They also don't have the benefit of a young CB getting his first significant time. However, they do still have our safeties (who we hope improve). The past few trips to Lexington have been close. I think our team has the overall experience to start a new streak.
Florida over Kentucky.
Tennessee:
Florida shouldn't lose this game. We've dominated this series as of late. The last few at home have been close. I would be shocked if a team that went 2-6 in the SEC last season comes into the Swamp and goes out with a win. If Florida, and this is likely, comes in 3-0 many fans will be here for the rivalry game and as the first big home game of the season, the fans should be pumped. Tennessee should have an improved squad over the 5-7 team, but the question is how much. How much of a factor will the crowd be? Probably enough.Tennessee couldn't stop Florida in any phase last year, hard to think that both teams improve with Tennessee improving vastly enough to beat Florida in the Swamp.
Florida over Tennessee
Towson:
See UT-Martin.
Auburn:
Auburn has been a thorn in Florida's side since 2001 and many other times before (1994, I still remember). Here's the thing. Auburn wasn't that great last year, they have a new QB, and though returning their o-line, it was good enough to give Tennessee one of their SEC wins last year. Auburn plays at Kyle Field and against #FailState in physical games in the two weeks leading them into Gainesville. A freshman QB will be playing in their second road game when they visit Gainesville. I don't think Malzahn returning to play-calling does enough to push Auburn over the edge for the Swamp, especially with the two weeks coming before him.
Florida over Auburn, but closer than it should be.
LSU:
Just bought my tickets today. Brother and I are making a just the two of us trip to Red Stick. Here's the thing, we should be on a 5 game winning streak in this series:
2014: Jeff Driskel throws a ball behind Defensive End Tevin Westbrook who couldn't make a circus catch at full stretch behind him while momentum carried him away from the ball. Then Jeff Driskel decided throwing the ball over the middle while trying to move the ball with no time left was a brilliant idea. Well, pick and LSU returns it in FG range and wins with a late FG.
2015: Treon Harris throws for 271 yards, UF's vaunted D allows a 50 yard catch and run on 3rd and 9 at the end of the 1st half, and Kelvin Taylor has an IMPRESSIVE 1.7 ypc. For all of Treon's faults, this wasn't on him. Someone look up how many power 5 games we have thrown for 271 since, then narrow it by teams like LSU, FSU, and quality UGA teams. Seriously, if the running game (Scarlett 1 carry for 11 yards) and Nuss had done anything and if the D didn't give up a few ridiculous plays, we had a good shot.
2016: Won, all of Cazabella heard me yell "F***!!!" as the feed cut when Guice went into the air at the end of the game.
2017: EDDY! EDDY! EDDY!
2018: Won.
We will know very little about LSU before we play them as they have one real game (sorry Vandy, you going to be bad this year), in Austin, before we play. This could be to our benefit, or to our demise. It's easy to be confident when you beat Vandy, GA Southern, NW State and Utah State. Can you beat Texas?
Mullen vs. Orgeron. I'll give Mullen the nudge here for now, a lot can change over the next two months.
*Florida over LSU.
South Carolina:
We do face Auburn and LSU (reverse order of the old days) before facing South Carolina. They face Alabama, Mizzou, Kentucky, and Georgia for 4 weeks before us. I would be shocked if South Carolina was better than 2-4 going into it. I think 2015 was more full for them than will for this game.
Florida ends Muschamp at South Carolina the way Carolina ended his term at Florida.
Georgia:
This is the toughest game of the season currently. If Franks' deep ball is improved, then we can see a battle. Without Franks missing the first play, Scarlett fumble, Hendo Injury, and Franks fumble the 2018 game is difference. However, this is still a talented UGA team. If our defense is healthy, I think we could pull this off.
I'm going on record for now that this game is a push and could go either way.
Vanderbilt:
Gone is Shurmer, Wright is still there. Vandy has lost too much to come into the Swamp. This isn't 2013 (by appearances). Last year, Florida moved the ball consistently, but just failed to score early. This game won't be a 11 a.m. local kick. I think UF will be ready to go.
Mizzou:
A mid-November trip to cold Missouri? Yea, this will be fun. Can Bryant run Mizzou's offense like Locke? Possibly, will UF have a big game hangover going into MIzzou this year? No. The revenge factor plays big for me here. Mizzou faces a UGA team that will either be riding high or pissed off the week we play Vandy. This could factor towards us.
I'm going UF.
FSU:
Willie Taggart and Briles may turn a corner...but will there be an O-Line or a back up QB? Skinny Blackman I don't think makes it this far if the o-line plays like last year. Can UF get its first victory over FSU in the Swamp in a decade? If not, the Seniors shouldn't be the only ones making their final appearance in the Swamp.
UF over FSU.
Again, this is brief because I could go on about each for a while and will when the time comes and the status of each team for the week is available. I will talk about these more if you guys want. Every single game is winnable, but this is the Gators we are talking about. Gators' fans are always waiting for the other shoe to drop.
We can easily win 10 to 12 games in the regular season. I think we somehow could lose to Auburn, Mizzou, LSU, or UGA. All the games are definitely winnable. We find ways to lose games we shouldn't though.
I think we go 11-1 based on the schedule and where we sit in the schedule for other teams. We do always drop games so 9-3 could be a possibility. "Randomly" picking a coach, Ron English should be removed for less than 9-3...perhaps if less than 10-2. As a note, this is based on most staying healthy and seeing improvement we should see.
Miami:
This game in Orlando is HUGE. Winning is the only option. To lose and I think we may be looking at a 2013 again, the last time we lost to Miami. As someone who has attended every UF-Miami game since 2002, I really do not like Miami and have experienced the wrong side of the rivalry too much.
Anyways, can you give me one impressive win for Miami in 2018? A 7-7 Pitt team that got wrecked by UCF and others? A Va. Tech team that lost to Old Dominion? FSU with a losing record?
Meanwhile, against two real teams, we will call them LSU and Wisconsin, those games inspired several episodes of Law & Order: SVU in the past few months. Miami had a good looking front seven against a bunch of mediocre teams, but again, the train that ran through them against two real opponents gives me hope. Throw in their offensive line problems and our aggressive defense and we should have an advantage. The question will be how good really is their front seven and what is the status of our o-line. Although I trust Dan Mullen to scheme around o-line problems more than Enos.
Florida over Miami
UT-Martin:
Should score 50, failure to score 50 will be an embarrassment.
Florida over UT-Miami
Kentucky:
Revenge game, something many of us didn't say. Kentucky has lost a ton of talent and seniors. They also don't have the benefit of a young CB getting his first significant time. However, they do still have our safeties (who we hope improve). The past few trips to Lexington have been close. I think our team has the overall experience to start a new streak.
Florida over Kentucky.
Tennessee:
Florida shouldn't lose this game. We've dominated this series as of late. The last few at home have been close. I would be shocked if a team that went 2-6 in the SEC last season comes into the Swamp and goes out with a win. If Florida, and this is likely, comes in 3-0 many fans will be here for the rivalry game and as the first big home game of the season, the fans should be pumped. Tennessee should have an improved squad over the 5-7 team, but the question is how much. How much of a factor will the crowd be? Probably enough.Tennessee couldn't stop Florida in any phase last year, hard to think that both teams improve with Tennessee improving vastly enough to beat Florida in the Swamp.
Florida over Tennessee
Towson:
See UT-Martin.
Auburn:
Auburn has been a thorn in Florida's side since 2001 and many other times before (1994, I still remember). Here's the thing. Auburn wasn't that great last year, they have a new QB, and though returning their o-line, it was good enough to give Tennessee one of their SEC wins last year. Auburn plays at Kyle Field and against #FailState in physical games in the two weeks leading them into Gainesville. A freshman QB will be playing in their second road game when they visit Gainesville. I don't think Malzahn returning to play-calling does enough to push Auburn over the edge for the Swamp, especially with the two weeks coming before him.
Florida over Auburn, but closer than it should be.
LSU:
Just bought my tickets today. Brother and I are making a just the two of us trip to Red Stick. Here's the thing, we should be on a 5 game winning streak in this series:
2014: Jeff Driskel throws a ball behind Defensive End Tevin Westbrook who couldn't make a circus catch at full stretch behind him while momentum carried him away from the ball. Then Jeff Driskel decided throwing the ball over the middle while trying to move the ball with no time left was a brilliant idea. Well, pick and LSU returns it in FG range and wins with a late FG.
2015: Treon Harris throws for 271 yards, UF's vaunted D allows a 50 yard catch and run on 3rd and 9 at the end of the 1st half, and Kelvin Taylor has an IMPRESSIVE 1.7 ypc. For all of Treon's faults, this wasn't on him. Someone look up how many power 5 games we have thrown for 271 since, then narrow it by teams like LSU, FSU, and quality UGA teams. Seriously, if the running game (Scarlett 1 carry for 11 yards) and Nuss had done anything and if the D didn't give up a few ridiculous plays, we had a good shot.
2016: Won, all of Cazabella heard me yell "F***!!!" as the feed cut when Guice went into the air at the end of the game.
2017: EDDY! EDDY! EDDY!
2018: Won.
We will know very little about LSU before we play them as they have one real game (sorry Vandy, you going to be bad this year), in Austin, before we play. This could be to our benefit, or to our demise. It's easy to be confident when you beat Vandy, GA Southern, NW State and Utah State. Can you beat Texas?
Mullen vs. Orgeron. I'll give Mullen the nudge here for now, a lot can change over the next two months.
*Florida over LSU.
South Carolina:
We do face Auburn and LSU (reverse order of the old days) before facing South Carolina. They face Alabama, Mizzou, Kentucky, and Georgia for 4 weeks before us. I would be shocked if South Carolina was better than 2-4 going into it. I think 2015 was more full for them than will for this game.
Florida ends Muschamp at South Carolina the way Carolina ended his term at Florida.
Georgia:
This is the toughest game of the season currently. If Franks' deep ball is improved, then we can see a battle. Without Franks missing the first play, Scarlett fumble, Hendo Injury, and Franks fumble the 2018 game is difference. However, this is still a talented UGA team. If our defense is healthy, I think we could pull this off.
I'm going on record for now that this game is a push and could go either way.
Vanderbilt:
Gone is Shurmer, Wright is still there. Vandy has lost too much to come into the Swamp. This isn't 2013 (by appearances). Last year, Florida moved the ball consistently, but just failed to score early. This game won't be a 11 a.m. local kick. I think UF will be ready to go.
Mizzou:
A mid-November trip to cold Missouri? Yea, this will be fun. Can Bryant run Mizzou's offense like Locke? Possibly, will UF have a big game hangover going into MIzzou this year? No. The revenge factor plays big for me here. Mizzou faces a UGA team that will either be riding high or pissed off the week we play Vandy. This could factor towards us.
I'm going UF.
FSU:
Willie Taggart and Briles may turn a corner...but will there be an O-Line or a back up QB? Skinny Blackman I don't think makes it this far if the o-line plays like last year. Can UF get its first victory over FSU in the Swamp in a decade? If not, the Seniors shouldn't be the only ones making their final appearance in the Swamp.
UF over FSU.
Again, this is brief because I could go on about each for a while and will when the time comes and the status of each team for the week is available. I will talk about these more if you guys want. Every single game is winnable, but this is the Gators we are talking about. Gators' fans are always waiting for the other shoe to drop.
We can easily win 10 to 12 games in the regular season. I think we somehow could lose to Auburn, Mizzou, LSU, or UGA. All the games are definitely winnable. We find ways to lose games we shouldn't though.
I think we go 11-1 based on the schedule and where we sit in the schedule for other teams. We do always drop games so 9-3 could be a possibility. "Randomly" picking a coach, Ron English should be removed for less than 9-3...perhaps if less than 10-2. As a note, this is based on most staying healthy and seeing improvement we should see.