So this is how I ended the prediction for last year.
So there you go, 11-1 or maybe 10-2 and the return of the
Gators to Atlanta for the SEC championship game. I don’t think we can beat
Alabama, but only one team is going to have a chance to do that in the SEC
title game, so it might as well be us, right? If you get there, you never know
how the ball might bounce on a given night!
Another quality bowl looks to be on the horizon and 2020
looks to be the year for Mullen to really lead the Gators in the quest for our
next National Championship! Maybe it will come a year earlier! I know I
wouldn’t complain, would you?
Not bad, right? It was almost spot on, well except that part
about winning the east and playing Bama in the SEC title game. The loss to
Georgia was the difference maker for sure.
Now that we know who the Gators will possibly play in this
Covid Season of 2020, let’s see how we fair in picking the winners for this
season. Let me first say, if we get to play this season at all then we all win!
The revised schedule has the Gators on the road to Oxford to
play the Black Bears for game 1 now late in September. First year coach, Lame
Kitten, will have the Rebel Bears fired up. He’ll probably even promise to lead
the band in Rocky Top when they beat the Gators. Oh, wait, that’s not the song
they play there is it. Well it doesn’t matter what the tune is, Lame won’t be
able to pay the piper and the Gators will beat back a strong effort from the
Rebs and leave Mississippi with a solid win.
Coach Muschamp will bring his fightin chickens into the
Swamp for a week two showdown. He never was very good at winning in the swamp,
so we hope that trend continues now that he’s on the other sideline. I think
the first home game with a new dynamic of limited fans or no fans will make a
difference. But it won’t be enough to stop the Gators from picking the feathers
of the Gamecocks for another solid win.
Week three and the Gators head west to take on the Aggies in
the great state of Texas. This is a dangerous game. Jimbo Fisher seemed to have
the Gators figured out when he was in the school out west. He’s had some time
to develop his kind of players at TAMU. This one could also see the Gators
looking ahead to the matchup with last year’s National Champion. If they do,
they’ll lose for sure. They may lose anyway. But until I see it on the field, I
think the Gators are still better person for person than the Aggies. Gators win
again.
What many see as the biggest game on the schedule is the
annual tilt between the Bayou Bengals and the Gators. I don’t see another Joe
Burrows moment in the making, but Gator fans didn’t see a Kyle Trask year
either last year. The Tigers are talented, and Coach O is a guru of motivation,
even if most can’t understand what he’s saying. Somehow, he gets through to his
players. I look for this one to be close, it’s the swing game for me. A
turnover late will be the deciding factor of the game for one team or the
other. I’ll say the Gators win, but I’m not that confident that I’m right.
Another group of Tigers rolls into town the next week and another
team from Columbia. This group from Missouri are a wildcard in the SEC East.
First they shouldn’t be in the east but that’s a whole different subject. There
really isn’t a week off in an SEC schedule and this one is no exception to that
rule. The Gators had better be ready to battle or this could be the upset of
the year. I don’t think it will be and the Gators continue to march toward the
elusive perfect season.
The Gators get Halloween off but then have to face the
Bulldogs from Georgia the first week in November. As it has for most of the
last 20 years, this one will probably decide the East Champion. There are some
that thing Mullen has to beat Georgia to keep the Gator faithful happy. They
may be right. You can’t say your program is better than someone you haven’t
beaten yet. I believe this will be the year. They’ve been close the last couple
of years and the Gators need to get this one on multiple levels. Another swing
game here that will turn on who commits the most turnovers. Gators win again!
(I hope!)
If the Gators get by the Dogs, (I know that’s not how GA
fans spell it!), They could be undefeated or at least tied for the lead in the
East when the Hogs rumble into the Swamp. At least one Razorback will be quite
at home. Felipe Franks will likely lead the team from the huddle if he can make
his way to the right sideline. He’d like nothing more than to stick it to Gator
fans but I don’t think he will have enough behind him to pull off the upset.
Hope you win them all except this one Felipe!
Florida travels to Music City for the battle with Vandy. We
never seem to really play well there. Maybe with new travel plans and
procedures that will change. It will be later in the season when we go and
probably colder than we would like. I wonder who will still be in the stands if
there are no Gator fans allowed in the fourth quarter? The Gators win and the
stands may be empty!
Kentucky replaces the school out west for the Thanksgiving
weekend game. This will be a tougher matchup than the Noles would have been.
Kentucky has been improving but they just don’t have enough to last this late
in the season. Coach Stoops is a good coach, but he’s not good enough to come
back and beat the Gators in the swamp this year. Gators win a close but comfortable
game.
The Gators end the season on Rocky Top. The SEC has given
the Vols the best chance to beat the Gators by placing this game last. It will
be colder and maybe even more windy than the early September trip the Gators
are used to making. The reduced capacity of the stadium will not be a factor.
The depth of Tennessee will be. They just don’t have enough to be considered
among the best in the SEC yet. I think the Gators win again on the Hill!
So it’s possible the Gators could have their elusive perfect
season at 10-0. It’s also possible that they could end up 8-2 and finish second
behind Georgia again. That would not be good news for Gator fans. There is so
much more important things happening than the state of college football this fall, but
for football fans, it’s still an important thing. I hope we get to see the
entire schedule play out. That would be a win for us all regardless of the outcome!
