Florida Gators Ranking: 43/134
[Check out RJ Young’s ultimate 134 college football rankings here]
Conference ranking: 12th in SEC (+12000 to win conference)
Teams ahead of them: Liberty (42), Colorado (41), Appalachian State (40), James Madison (39), Auburn (38)
Teams behind them: Boise State (44), Louisiana (45), UNC (46), TCU (47), BYU (48)
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RJ’s take: The Gators play the finest schedule on the planet, according to their opponents’ combined 2023 résumé. 2024 UF opponents went 106-50 in 2023, 10 were ranked in 2023 and 10 had at least one win against a ranked opponent. But the season will come down to how soon we see, how often we see and how good DJ Lagway is for a UF team that needs to find its way back to winning.
It’s not just that UF hasn’t had a winning season since the plague year (2020) but that Billy Napier is being sued for millions by a backup quarterback at Georgia, has never beaten Florida State, Georgia or Kentucky (!) while putting together a woeful 11-14 record in Gainesville.
Lagway might be Florida — and Napier’s — best hope for a winning season. He passed for 4,604 yards with 58 TDs as a senior at Willis (Texas) High School while winning National Gatorade Player of the Year, the Bobby Dodd Award (High School’s Heisman), MaxPreps Player of the Year Elite 11 National High School Quarterback of the Year and National Quarterback Club High School Quarterback of the Year — accolades that are longhand for “stud.”
On the defensive side of the ball, I am excited to find out if tackle LJ McCray can make an impact right away. At 6-foot-6, 280 pounds, he can be the kind of gate-crasher the Gators need to allow the linebacking corps the freedom to run by blockers and into the backfield.
Florida Win Total Odds: Over 4.5 (-155) Under 4.5 (+130)
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