FINALLY! Its officially gator game week

Rain moves out by Friday, 70s and partly sunny at kickoff. Figure the field will be fine.

 

UF now -14.5
over/under 57

 

I'm a little surprised that this game hasn't gotten more hype (maybe Im a little biased) nationally or even in the SEC, given Mullen's return to Mississippi, the Kiffin factor, Matt Corrall's derecruitment by Mullen, and 8 or 9 Florida guys on the Ole Miss roster.

 

If ole Miss shows as a complete team and is organized and doesn't make a lot of mistakes I will give Kiffin props.

 

I will too, but I know these coaches well enough to know that Mullen will have the more well-coached and prepared team. It'll be interesting the first time Kiffen tries to "wow" the home crowd with a trick play and it blows up on them. We have an experienced squad that won't miss it's spring practices as badly as 'Ole Miss will. I'm still sticking with my 42 - 20 Gators score.

 

I feel like we're going to see disorganization from most teams. I think this year actually presents a disadvantage to Mullen and coaches like him who prepare well. This year the situation will level the field some. For example, our staff had both of the first two games pre-researched, as they always do. Those games were pushed to the back of the schedule by the SEC, so, the staff had to start over. Another example would be that our S&C staff has proven to start the team conditioning off miles ahead of the competition. That advantage will be limited this year with the reduced contact. New coaches like Kiffin may also be at a disadvantage because installing a totally new system is going to be complex in the shortened camp with no Spring. At least guys like Trask and other returning upperclassmen already know our system. I expect Game 1 to be sloppy. I also think teams who emphasize versatility of players will get some advantage from that because players will be popping in and out of availability.

 

I'm a little more optimistic about the quality of play for UF than some obviously are. I honestly think that if the OL plays reasonably wel, we'll be able to set up the play-action, deep passing game with a very solid running attack. If that does in fact happen, we'll be able to absorb a few slips and glitches here and there with little or no trouble. I know that's an "optimistic" outlook, but I have faith in this staff and these players. Ole Miss will probably score some points, but there's no way they can match us man for man and play for play if we don't just hand them the game. I think we win by around 21-28 points if we don't trip on our own shoe laces - and again, I don't expect that to happen.

 

I have mixed feelings about the game tomorrow.

Excited for Gator football.

Not excited that I won't be there. Ole Miss got bumped in 2013 and we went to aTm for our road game. It could be another 10-12 years before I get to a Gator game in The Grove.

Excited for our team and the thought of how good of a season it can be.

Not excited that College Football in general is a mess! Conferences starting in 3 different months. Some teams playing OOC. Some not. Some playing 8. Some playing 10. How in the world is the CFP going to be able to decide. Seems like a perfect year for 8 or 16 teams. Make back some money. Experiment.