Florida
2012 Record: 11-2 (7-1 in the SEC) Lost to Louisville 33-23
in the Sugar Bowl
*Disclaimer: I will not pretend that anything written here
is unbiased. I hate Florida. That is
all.
2012 Recap:
Never in my memory can I recall a team that won so many
games with such a mediocre team. Florida
struggled with Bowling Green in the opening week of the season. The 20-17 win over Texas A&M looks good
now, but honestly Texas A&M wasn't Texas A&M when the Gators played
them. Florida trailed 17-10 at the half,
but managed to come back and win late.
Florida’s best game was a 14-6 win over LSU that probably
set SEC football back 100 years. There
is a huge difference between a great defensive struggle and two offenses that
couldn’t find the endzone if their lives depended on it. Combined the teams managed just 20 points, 30
first downs, 437 total offensive yards, and 5 turnovers.
In some ways, Florida’s loss to Georgia a few weeks later
was just as ugly, but in other ways, it was oh so beautiful. The Georgia loss put Florida behind the Dawgs
in the race for Atlanta, and ultimately took the Gators out of the SEC title
game. Florida did manage to beat FSU
37-26 in Tallahassee to finish 11-1.
However, the Gators were simply embarrassing in their Sugar
Bowl loss to Louisville. Losing to
Louisville isn’t embarrassing, but seemingly not caring about playing in a big
time game like the Sugar Bowl is embarrassing.
The Schedule:
To say that Florida will be hard pressed to match their
total of 11 wins from 2012 is an understatement. After opening against Toledo in the Swamp,
Florida goes on the road to a pretty good Miami team in a game that will kick
off at noon on ESPN. Funny things happen in games that kickoff at noon,
especially early in the season.
Florida gets Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and FSU at home this
year, but has to go on the road against LSU and South Carolina. Not to mention that Florida has lost their
edge in Jacksonville over the past two seasons, dropping two in a row to the
Dawgs for the first time since the pre-Spurrier era. The toughest stretch of the schedule will
probably be playing three straight against Georgia, Vanderbilt, and South
Carolina. Those three games will determine
if Florida is going to be a player in the SEC East.
Key Returner:
I’ll go with Jeff Driskel, but not for any good
reasons. Driskel was the picture of
mediocrity last season. 1646 yards
passing with 12 touchdowns and 5 interceptions.
Driskel threw 4 touchdowns against South Carolina in a win, but had only
93 yards passing in that game. He threw
2 interceptions in a loss to Georgia.
Driskel never threw for more than 216 yards in a game last season and
was sacked 36, that’s right, 36 times.
So why is he the key returner? Believe it or not, more will be put on
Driskel in 2013. Last year, he was given
the responsibility to not lose games. In
2013, he will have to be the reason Florida wins games
because there isn’t much
else proven on offense.
Key Loss:
Mike Gillislee RB. You want to know why Florida won 11 games
in 2012? The first reason is defense,
but you can’t win if you don’t score, and the only reason Florida scored in
2012 was Gillislee. On an offense that
ranked 118th out of 120 teams in passing yards per game last season,
Gillislee managed over 1150 yards and 10 touchdowns. He carried the ball a whopping 246 times in
2012. Florida has 6 running backs listed on their depth chart for 2012, they combined
for 568 yards last season.
Gillislee’s loss means that Jeff Driskel will have to be the
centerpiece of the offense, a scary thought.
Success will be:
Winning the SEC East.
The Gators had a great season last year, but to realistically put them
at the top of the SEC is a bit of a stretch.
Winning the East would be a huge accomplishment for this team. I don’t think they can run the table in
conference, and I don’t think they can beat LSU, so they will have to hope for
a win against Georgia or South Carolina, and hope the team they lose to, has
more conferences losses than them.
The problem that Florida is going to have is that their fans
expect a lot more coming off of last season.
When expectations are high and results fall short in the SEC there is
only one thing that follows…
2013 Prediction:
Pain. I think you can put them down for three losses right
out of the gate, because this team just isn't on the level of LSU, South
Carolina, or Georgia. Let’s say they
split with their two in-state rivals, so I’ll go with 8-4. I could see them beating both Miami and FSU,
but I could also see them losing to a team like Vanderbilt.
Florida is not accustomed to being a middle of the pack SEC
school, and they will not allow themselves to become accustomed to it. Florida was 7-6 in 2011. I think they will be mediocre again in
2013. If Florida wins anything less than
8 games in 2013 Muschamp will be gone and Florida will try to lure Louisville
head coach Charlie Strong back to Gainesville where he was a defensive
coordinator.
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