Miami Hurricanes at Florida Gators | College Football Week 1 | Game Preview 🏈

week one has officially arrived and we are gearing up for a Full Slate of games but right now we're here to talk about a big one in the State of Florida you've got Gators and Canes so to help us break down one of the biggest games on Saturday are our friends David Lake from inside the U and Jacob rudner of swamp 247 let's tell you a little bit more about this matchup it's one that we have not gotten in a very long time it's the battle for Sunshine State Supremacy Miami leads the alltime series by two wins while Florida is trying to Buck the unfortunate and historic trend of three straight Seasons with seven plus losses that is the longest uh streak in school history both teams though desperate for this 1 and0 start so let's start with the Rivalry it's incredibly important to the sport of college football but this is the first time we get this in the swamp since 2008 so let's start with the host Jacob what makes this specific matchup such a significant one in this rivalry well there's no question that this is one of those matchups that's going to serve as a very early barometer for both teams uh to show where these two coaches stand Mario chrisal Billy Napier both in their third year Billy Napier like you mentioned back-to-back Seasons with seven losses he's 11 and 14 since taking over as Florida's head coach and this is one of those games that Florida fans are really going to care about they want to beat Miami they want to beat Miami especially because this game is at home and whether or not Napier is able to do so is probably going to go a long way in determining how exactly they feel about whether or not his tenure is headed in the right direction so is it a week one game is it kind of early to really make those kind of determinations yes I do think so uh but from an emotional standpoint there's no question that this game matters a whole bunch for the Gators for their fans and for Billy Napier himself yeah and for me you know I'll lean into the Rivalry aspect of this game it it's the biggest one because it is the next one and as you were saying earlier Emily that uh they don't play often uh they've played once in the last decade and that game was a neutral sight game uh so this game's you know back on a uh at the swamp at the University of Florida's home stadium and so uh it's back to that kind of traditional College rivalry type feel and uh we don't know when the next game between these programs is going to be there's nothing scheduled in terms of regular season so at this point it would have to be a postseason matchup and as we know college football is all about rivalries bragging your friends uh that are fans of of the other instate schools amongst the big three whether that's Miami Florida Florida state which team is the best in the state that year I think this is a year where it all gets played out on the field well now that we have set the scene let's talk about the matchup starting with the quarterbacks Graham Merz is back for his second year in the swamp but he has company right behind him by way of five-star quarterback DJ lagway so Jacob what should we expect from the QB room in game number one well I think that with DJ lag's hype it might be easy to think that this is a situation where Graham Merz does have company where there has been competition uh when in reality it's been quite the opposite DJ lagway for as good and talented and hyped up as he is is clearly Florida's backup quarterback to Graham MZ who led the South Eastern Conference in completion percentage last year uh he proved extremely efficient uh he knows Florida's offense at an incredibly high level and most importantly Florida's coaching staff trusts him implicitly they view him as the leader of this team Billy Napier has gone as far as to say that it is his team and so while DJ lagway is in the fold I still think that Graham Merz is going to be Florida's clear number one quarterback there may be some packages for DJ lague to show off his athleticism and add sort of a dynamic element to this Florida offense but at the end of the day it's a clear starter backup situation with MZ and DJ lagway all right on the flip side Miami won out on the cam Ward sweep Stakes they bet or they beat some Rivals for him and the NFL for him so David how have you seen him fit into this Miami locker room so far yeah it didn't take long honestly for cam W to emerge as the unquestioned leader uh he came in in the spring went to work in a quiet way and uh proved it with his play on the field and from that point he went on to take on more of a vocal leadership role Mario chrisal regularly calls him an alpha personality and he's been impressed with the way cam ward has set the tone during practices for the offense with his energy and he also just raises the competition level out at practice from the defensive side with the competitive Trash Talk uh that that he go goes at with the defensive side so uh he is definitely a much more assertive personality compared to the starting quarterback last year and as far as you know where things are from a cultural standpoint uh Miami feels like things are right where they want them uh at that back position always love it when the QB is jawing with the defense along the same lines let's talk about the defense of both of these teams I think it's safe to say the secondary is a story for both sides Florida gave up the most explosive plays through the air than all that one FBS team last year while Miami they add a big time transfer so let's start with David uh how can each of these teams test the other's secondary on Saturday yeah so everyone can can go look at the stats from last year and see what Florida's uh of production was in the secondary relative to the Past defense uh I think that was last year though and so I'm not necessarily expecting that type of performance this year I think Florida's secondary does have talent I think Miami respects the talent that they have and look I think operating a passing game in game one in the swamp is a tremendous challenge so with all that said though Miami does bring some serious Firepower uh to the passing element of their offense we talked about cam Ward they also returned three starting wide receivers with 800 yards of production uh last year each one of those guys having 800 yards they're the first team to do that uh have that type of returning production since Houston in 2010 and the last power conference to do that since Texas Tech in 2006 so do they necessarily have a wide receiver one I don't I don't know we'll find out I guess but they feel like they can kind of overwhelm an opponent with their numbers yeah I think Florida thinks that it can overwhelm its opponents throughout this season with its speed it's kind of something that this coaching staff has held hung its hat on uh in its third off season in Gainesville Florida feels as though it is faster across the board and at no position is that more apparent right now than wide receiver Eugene Wilson is back for his sophomore year he's one of the fastest guys on the team Chim Ray dek transferred from Wisconsin he's one of the fastest guys on the team and the list goes on Aiden misel khil Jackson Marcus Burke tank Hawkins TJ rooms all these guys build out Florida's wide receiver room and give them a unit that they think can test secondaries unlike the ones in the past and in no other area do they hope that that's more apparent than in the Deep passing game last year gram Merz attempted just 39 passes that traveled 39 or more yards excuse me 39 passes that traveled 20 or more yards through the air he completed just 16 of them and this season they know that they're going to need to be more explosiv so my expectation is that we see that right away I think Florida tries to take the top off off of this Miami defense and utilize that speed element that it's starting to feel really good about guys it's been a long off season thankfully we've had a video game to hold us over and so we actually simulated this game 20 times on the video game and Florida came away with 12 wins to miam's nine so that's going to be the question here for each team make the case starting with Jacob why does Florida need this win more well I think it goes back to what we talked about at the outset of this which is that Billy Napier needs to finally prove that his team is able to win the big game I understand that Florida has been good at home it beat Utah in Napier's first game as Florida's head coach but the reality is is that its amount of statement wins since that game have dwindled they do not win a lot of these statement opportunities and this is one of the biggest if not the biggest so far so uh I think that the pressure is on for Napier to start his season off on the right foot they need to prove to fans that this is the most improved and effective team that he's had so far in Gainesville in three years and the reality is this they cannot have another losing season and I think it'll be a tone Setter for them if they can get a win against Miami in week one and yeah from a Miami standpoint look I think on paper everything looks great for Miami they're ranked number 19 in the preseason polls I think on paper they have the best roster in the ACC and they have a legitimate chance to go earn a spot in this expanded college football playoff again that is on paper and uh this in a lot of ways is a barometer type of game for this Miami team to go out and prove it on the grass Miami BR in Mario Christal as a head coach uh a couple years ago to get Miami to the point where they are legitimately consistently competing at a high level uh pushing for legitimate playoff uh and postseason type games uh Miami has largely been nationally irrel over the last 20 years and this win can kind of set the tone uh get some positive momentum going in the early part of this season and uh allow things to kind of settle into what they feel like is a favorable ACC schedule as well I do want to specify I think I said 12 wins to nine which does not equal 20 um I am not in week one form but I will be ready don't worry clearly both of you guys are ready to go and thank you so much for previewing this matchup I can not wait for this one if you want more coverage from both of these teams keep it locked in to inside the U for all things Miami football and swamp 247 for everything you need to know about the Florida Gators the Riders the whole crew they have you covered all season long [Music]