The Miami Hurricanes at The Florida Gators Week 1 Preview | The New SEC Podcast

[Music] it'll be a good one an out-of-conference matchup that we're excited for when we're looking uh you know again at the ACC scheduling yet another outof conference game trying to build some you know something to talk about week one it's going to be the Miami Hurricanes playing the Florida Gator oh yeah so I mean let's just think about this like thus far you have Georgia versus Clemson at noon and then at 3:30 Eastern you have Miami versus Florida it's going to be a fun Saturday and the ACC you know took a bold task of scheduling some really good out of conference games and Florida took the Bold task of scheduling every single power four team in Florida on their schedule but uh so you know back to this game it should be really fun um we're going start with the positives here Graham Merz last year had 20 touchdowns and three interceptions so there's a lot to build on there 100 touched on it last episode but he really was able to improve his interception wo coming in as a transfer from Wisconsin and and that's where you saw that that number go down to three picks um a player that I'm really excited to watch is sophomore Eugene Wilson II he was a five-star recruit last year he was a freshman all SEC player he was a on from multiple Publications was a freshman All-American you know including on three um and he led the team in touchdowns with six touchdowns with second in receptions and so optimistically Florida just had a tough time kind of putting together both the offense and the defense you know I think that if they can you know really come out strong and take some of that youth from last year and and add some more veteran uh veteran plays with Eugene and with graham Merz this game will be uh really interesting and close like Vegas thinks with with a two and a half point spread yeah anytime you can return a quarterback and continue to build upon that progression is is great I think grah makes some strides um I would love to see it at the other side of the ball is not returning a quarterback they're grabbing another guy in cam Ward coming over from Washington State so while this might be Miami's biggest game this year looking at their schedule in the easyish road that they had ahead of them this isn't Florida's biggest game this year they have all kinds of games ahead how does that play out not sure but we can look at Miami's team and see what they've done and and trying to build their shot at the playoffs this year and it's they've been winning the transfer Portal game they got cam Ward who very well could be in the NFL right now almost 3,000 yards uh last year at Washington State and then they picked up Damen Martinez over thard rusher at Oregon State he is g to be somebody to watch on the Hurricanes this year he is uh he's going to be a dog there I think he's going to be a Difference Maker in this game and we can't forget to talk about uh you know your guy coming over from Houston Sam Brown yeah Sam Sam Brown was you know the second leading receiver for University of Houston um m is making the jump over to the ACC with Miami and it's it's almost like Miami just kind of put together this like all Big 12 all Pack 12 or pack two team with Washington State's cam Ward as you mentioned and with Damen Martinez Damen is is a going into this season top five running back in the country um so that could be tough for Florida's defense which ranked about 71st last year um nonetheless I think that you know Florida also made some really good pickups in the portal you know picking up Grayson pup from South Carolina uh as well as returning you know sophomore safety Jordan Castle um who led the team with 60 tackles and so when I when I look at Florida I really do believe it it was just a matter of putting the performances of each side of the ball together at the same time yeah it's not like they're a team that just was struggling offensively All Season the defensive struggles were rough but they made a change to the coordinator so we should expect some some a new performance this year yeah um and so it'll it'll be interesting and and and I think there's a lot of bad blood there right you know they don't get to play Miami every year uh they don't get to play Florida state every year but but they do want to this this game means something and it's in the swamp and and so it it'll be really fun and uh I don't know if um players like cam Ward and Martinez have ever been in an environment like this before and and Graham Merz uh can't say the same because he has right and and same with Eugene Wilson who's you know coming into a sophomore year um at receiver and you know so we'll see yeah the the big thing and you mentioned it changing in coordinators I don't think we see a Florida defense like we saw last year I think we see some upgrades we see a changed me Florida was second to last in the turnover battle last year um so they weren't getting turnovers they lose their sing their um their number one Edge rusher for this year so if they don't combine you know if they lose tackles for loss and they lose the you know interceptions in fumble battle then they're not going to have good field position all game I don't expect to see that from them this year I think that they turn it around you know they're you mentioned it the environment is going to be tough it's a it's a good start to the season they have a long road ahead Miami just looks a little bit too strong from my end so I have a 17 to 24 Miami win yeah and um you know this might be one of the few times we we agree from an SEC loss perspective but uh I you know I also have Miami taking it 24 to 17 um like I said last episode it's not going to be about just wins and losses but how the how Florida looks Florida is recruiting really well they have a lot of players right they don't want to lose Eugene Wilson or they don't want to lose montro Johnson the portal like these these guys at running back they don't they have a lot of strong players to pick up from it's just um we'll see but I have 20 I have Miami taking this one 247 should be a fun one nonetheless and um you know we'll see [Music]