What is the Most Intriguing Match-up for the Gators in 2024

Go to Miami. It’ll be rockin for sure.

 

You know the fans for that game will be insane...

 

If we are coming off a 1-2 start, the season will already be broken regardless of what happens in Starkville, MS.

 

Not Texas in Austin?

 

It’s easy to say Miami because they are first and sets the tone. Utah was the first game and set the tone 2 years ago and we still floundered. I think it’s how we close out the season because that’s going to have more of an impact on recruiting than the first game. 100% have to beat Kentucky though, there’s no way they should be on the winning side of any streak.

 

It felt HUGE when UF won the game last season and the ease with which they won it. So I could at least see the argument for it.
I’m gonna be super original and say Miami lol. Rivalry, sets the tone, and is a great chance to make a statement. I get it that Miami isn’t the quality of opponent that normally would be associated with a statement game. But how good will the Sunday after feel with a win!

 

You may be right, but I disagree.
If we beat State we are 2-2 going into bye #1.
Then we have 3 games- UCF at home, UT in Knoxville, Kentucky at home...

All are winnable. If we do that, we are now 5-2 going into bye #2.
If we win 2 of the next 5 (home vs. Ole Miss and at FSU for instance) we end 7-5.
That's a pretty good year, and the season will not be "broken."
It will be successful, actually.

OTOH if we start 1-2, lose to STate to make it 1-3, then I agree with you...
Hard to recover from that...We can, but yeah...

 

This feels like everyone knows about it but me. (Not unusual for yours truly.)
What did Dooley mean by this...

Florida under Billy Napier has not been a good road team. Some of that is because of a lack of maturity with kids ordering DoorDash at curfew when they have a noon game the following day.

Who did this? Was it the night before Kentucky?? If so that explains a lot..

 

I wish we had an answer to the question of, what does out of position mean? That they were not where coaches wanted or that they were positioned to play a defense against a different kenucky offense?

 

To me: CBN vs The FanBase. Will be an interesting season long drama .

 

No matter how the season goes, we cannot lose to UCF.

 

Miami should be our first game and first win.

Tennessee will have a freshman QB starting for them? Is that true? Nico has no idea the onslaught that he will face when the Gators come to town. I have no confidence in that freshman beating a seasoned Gators front line.

Besides that... we beat Tennessee all the dang time... nothing changes. I'm not buying their sudden rise to the top tier of the SEC, just because the best Bama last year or whenever...

Our schedule is full of trap games and difficult match-ups. The away games are almost always tough. That means MSU, Texas and FSU, although I feel like we can beat MSU. Texas is a whole other animal in Texas. It's a good thing we have a seasoned veteran QB (Mertz) in charge of the Gators offensively. Defensively the fans will be quiet so they will not have to worry about communication problems.

We have to defend our home field - Steve Spurrier Field. If we can then we will do well. All we need to do is beat the teams that we should beat home and away. Yeah, I know, easier said than done. We have to beat the teams that we should. That leaves LSU, Texas, Ole Miss, UGA and maybe FSU. That last part of our schedule will be the difference between a good year and a disappointing year. We just have to beat the teams that we should.

 

I understand that we have played aTm more than our share since they came to the SEC, but I have to believe the players will be amped to play against two former coaches and two former players.

 

Good! This will provide more motive for us and possibly put a few of our mighty opponents in cruise control the week we play them. But I seriously doubt that will actually happen. Our opponents know what’s going on in Gainesville and none of them are comfortable with it. Our opponents hope right now is the ridiculous and annoying negativity that festers among some of our fans. You know: the old “House Divided” thing.
It’s going to be quite rewarding for us Gators to see the genius computers at Draftkings proven wrong. And make no mistake about we will.

 

They look like the real deal. Add in Roberts and it seems Napier is as tired of weak defense as I am.

As for our improved roster, we may not be elite at every position and still lack depth and experience acrossthe board but we should not be totally outclassed at Austin or Jax or anywhere else.

The next step in the rebuild is win all home games as well as road games we're favored in.