2014
Florida Gators
College Football
Betting Preview
Odds and Schedule
There weren’t a whole lot of positives to take away from Florida’s Four-win 2013 season, but their defense was pretty stout and one of the best in the SEC. Still, that’s hardly something you can look at in the first losing season for the Gators since 1979. Will Muschamp knows he’ll have to produce better results this season or he’ll be on his way out.
Oddsmakers and bettors appear to be giving the Gators some respect. 5 dimes sportsbook is currently showing Florida at odds of 55 to 1 to win the National Championship. While those might seem like long odds, it places them 16th in the country using the posted odds as a ranking.
Former Duke OC is now Florida’s offensive coordinator, and he brings a more shotgun-based system. The good news is that Jeff Driskel will be back after missing the majority of last season. His absence was monumental in Florida’s collapse of seven-straight losses to close out the year. Tyler Murphy struggled in every Game and they eventually went with freshman Skyler Mornhinweg, who was no better at the end of the year.
Driskel isn’t amazing by any means, but he has a full year’s experience under his belt and is somewhat viable on the ground. The players around him should help as Kelvin Taylor, MACk Brown and Matt Jones are all studs in the backfield. Defenses harvested on Florida’s running Game last year so that’s why their numbers aren’t better. In the passing Game, Driskel will have Quinton DuNBAr as his top target, but will need sophomore Demarcus Robinson to step in and be consistent. Transfer tight end Jake McGee can also be a relevant option. As long as the Gators don’t have as many injuries, this offense has the pieces to be at least average.
As for the defense, they return nine starters and they’ll once again be one of the top units in the SEC. Despite losing a couple top corners, they’ll still have sophomore Vernon Hargreaves, who has the ability to be the best in the nation, nothing new for Florida. The front seven is stocked with juniors and seniors led by end Dante Fowler, who is their best option to get to the opposing team’s QB.
The good news for the Gators is that they’ll likely start the season with three straight big wins and could possibly get their offense on the right track. The bad news is that they follow up those Games with at Alabama, at Tennessee, vs. LSU, vs. Missouri and then vs. Georgia. Talk about a difficult stretch as the Gators get two of the best teams out of the SEC West on their Schedule. The end of the year is a little more favorable and hopefully they’ll be in the right state of mind to make a Game of the season finale at Florida State.
Florida may not be geared to a double-digit win season, but they can still get up to seven or eight wins, and that’s if the offense becomes merely average. Winning the SEC East is probably unrealistic, but they still have the pieces to compete against the top teams, especially at home against Mizzou and South Carolina.
2014 Florida Gators Football Schedule
Aug. 30 vs. Idaho
Sep. 6 vs. Eastern Michigan
Sep. 13 vs. Kentucky
Sep. 20 at Alabama
Oct. 4 at Tennessee
Oct. 11 vs. LSU
Oct. 18 vs. Missouri
Nov. 1 vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville)
Nov. 8 at Vanderbilt
Nov. 15 vs. South Carolina
Nov. 22 vs. Eastern Kentucky
Nov. 29 at Florida State