Florida was one of college football’s biggest surprises last season. The Gators finished 10-4 and claimed the SEC East title under first-year coach Jim McElwain, but it wasn’t easy. The offense struggled after the suspension of quarterback Will Grier in the second half. Transfer Luke Del Rio is slated to replace Treon Harris under center, but question marks remain on the offensive line and in the receiving corps.
Florida Gators Regular Season Win Total Odds at BookMaker.eu
Gators Over 7.5 Wins -125
Gators Under 7.5 Wins +105
2015 FLORIDA GATORS SEASON REVIEW
The Gators took a giant leap forward in McElwain’s first season, winning 10 games and claiming the SEC East championship with a 7-1 mark in conference play. McElwain was just the third first-year head coach in conference history to reach the SEC Championship Game.
Florida got off to a 6-0 start and its first top 10 ranking in three seasons en route to its first outright SEC East title since 2009. But a season ending three-game skid exposed Florida’s deficiencies on offense, and teams outscored the Gators 97-24 during that stretch. The offense worked just well enough when it had to, and then Grier got nailed for PEDs and nothing seemed to work after that.
Reaching double-digit wins wasn’t easy for the Gators with narrow victories over East Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. The final three-game slide actually started the week prior when Florida needed overtime to beat an undermanned Florida Atlantic squad. The Gators hung close in the conference championship game before bowing to Alabama and then were torched by Michigan in the Citrus Bowl.
WHAT CHANGED
The offense went nowhere over the second half with Harris unable to do much of anything through the air – Florida failed to hit more than 50 percent of its passes in six of the final seven games. Because of this, the staff is turning to transfers Del Rio and Austin Appleby to compete for the job.
The new quarterback options don’t have to bomb away, but they need to move the chains and keep defenses from stacking up against the run. The offense still isn’t going to be good enough, but it’ll be better than it was at the end of last season. The defense will again be fantastic, and the kicking game will be night-and-day improved. So why not win the division again?
2016 FLORIDA GATORS REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE
Sep. 3: vs. Massachusetts
Sep. 10: vs. Kentucky
Sep. 17: vs. North Texas
Sep. 24: at Tennessee
Oct. 1: at Vanderbilt
Oct. 8: vs. LSU
Oct. 15: vs. Missouri
Oct. 29: vs. Georgia
Nov. 5: at Arkansas
Nov. 12: vs. South Carolina
Nov. 19: vs. Presbyterian
Nov. 26: at Florida State
2016 FLORIDA GATORS SEASON PREVIEW
While McElwain’s first season was a success, there’s plenty of work ahead for this team in 2016. Despite losing a couple of key pieces, the defense should remain one of the best in the SEC. Winning the East Division once again will be a challenge, but an improved offense should allow Florida to stay close.
The defending division champs are not expected to repeat their surprising 2015 run. The Gators are in search of a quarterback and – unlike Georgia – don't have a stable of experienced running backs to lean on as workhorses. Florida needs the passing attack to produce in order to have any chance of getting eight wins. It’s not like Grier was Tom Brady, but he played the part when he had to over the first half of last season before getting suspended.
Defense has been the Gators' calling card for the past five years, and they figure to have another good one this year, but after seeing how badly they struggled without Grier on offense, can the offense carry them to wins?
Going to Tennessee and Arkansas won’t be easy, and Georgia and LSU are probably better than the Gators. And with a season-ender at Florida State, it’ll be tough for the Gators to reach their win total.
College Football Odds: Florida Gators Under 7.5 Wins
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