247Sports makes tough early season prediction for one of Tennessee Vols' SEC East rivals
247Sports made a tough early season prediction this week for one of the Tennessee Vols' biggest SEC East rivals. The national sports media outlet made predictions for several "top" week one games and they don't see the Billy Napier era in Gainesville getting off to a good start. 247Sports has the Florida Gators losing at […]
247Sports made a tough early season prediction this week for one of the Tennessee Vols' biggest SEC East rivals.
The national sports media outlet made predictions for several "top" week one games and they don't see the Billy Napier era in Gainesville getting off to a good start.
247Sports has the Florida Gators losing at home to the Utah Utes by a score of 30-27 in their week one matchup.
Billy Napier's tenure at Florida could start with a splash in September if the Gators are able to surprise us and beat a Utah team most are projecting inside the top 15 as the preseason favorite in the Pac-12. However, Cameron Rising and the Utes are veteran-loaded with their sights set on breaking the Pac-12's drought in the College Football Playoff and this is a game that stands in Utah's way of getting there. This will be the most difficult environment Utah must endure all season with more than 90,000 screaming Florida fans anxious to try and start the Napier era with a signature victory.
Losing at home certainly wouldn't be an ideal start for Napier. Though it's worth noting that starting with Utah, a team that could crash the playoff next season, isn't necessarily ideal, either.
The thing about losing to Utah, however, is that it puts Florida in a situation where missing a bowl game is a realistic scenario.
There are only three games on the Gators' schedule that I think are "automatic wins". Florida will beat South Florida, Eastern Washington, and Vanderbilt. Outside of that, nothing is guaranteed for the Gators. I think they'll beat Missouri and Florida State, which would get them to five wins.
Florida has "toss-up games" against Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, and LSU.
I tend to think the Gators will win at least one of those matchups to get to 6-6, but I can easily see them losing all of those games, too. It's also not out of the question that they lose to Mizzou or FSU.
That's why that loss to Utah feels like it would be a big deal. The last thing Florida wants to do is take a step back after going 6-7 last season.
But I think it's a very real possibility. I'm not a big believer in Napier — he doesn't seem like an upgrade over Dan Mullen — so it wouldn't be shocking if the Gators started trending in the wrong direction in 2022.
Featured image via Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
