2024 Florida Gators Schedule Preview

Beginning and First 4 Games operate in truth right operate in truth tell the [Music] truth hello everybody and welcome to the gator truth Florida football podcast I'm Daniel and on this episode we're going to take a look at the gator 2024 football schedule and I'm going to tell you a little about each game and at the end we may have a prediction for what the season will hold before we begin I want to thank all of you who have checked out our previous two episodes thereby far the most viewed and listened to episodes of any that I have done on this podcast so thank you to everyone who liked shared subscribed and really just made it special I am shocked at how many people I see on the YouTube numbers uh when I go and check so that's incredible thank you everyone and thank you everyone that checked out the whywe Huddle side Series where I bring in Gators and they talk about their fandom if you've not checked that out check that out as well with that said definitely if you enjoy this content give it a like if you have not subscribed already please do I intend to have even more content during the season not just through podcasts but also different things going on with Stadium atmosphere outside the stadium and all sorts of things also I did a similar podcast to this by guest doing a guest spot on the respect our decision podcast last week with hirh and the Gang it was a good time definitely check out respect our decision anywhere you get your podcast Facebook or YouTube lots of definitely good guys lots of good times were had this will not be quite the two hours as you know I like to keep it around half an hour but that is definitely a good episode to listen to and for the most part things haven't changed too much but some things have changed and I'll go through that as we get through this episode with that said again thank you everyone and we'll get right to it as we began talking about the gator schedule it is one of the most difficult schedules I've ever seen I do agree with Cole Cub cubic sorry the SEC network analyst who talked about how much of the emphasis on the schedule and the hardness of the schedule is more about the logos than it is about the teams themselves that's not to say that the schedule isn't like an eight or nine but a lot of people are talking like it's an 11 out of 10 or more than that I don't think it's quite there maybe it lives up to standard maybe it doesn't one thing about it is the 2003 schedules would always compare to for the hardest scare schedule we're at the end of the season six of the teams we faced were 10- win teams in the top 15 with a ninth team or sorry with a nine win team being a seventh team we faced and that was just a regular season in the postseason faced Michigan which was a seventh top 15 team that we played and among those teams were two top five teams including the eventual National Champion LSU who we beat in Death Valley with a true freshman quarterback in Chris Leak with that said the Gators will have to Buck a few Trends to have a good season this year and I will talk about later what I do think for expectations uh and what we should see but to get there Gator will have to you know change a few Trends we've seen in the building apor era the first Trend and by all means I do not do this to be negative but more just in form away from Gainesville whether it be neutral site bll game or away games Billy Napier's two and 10 away from Gainesville and has not beaten a team that finished with a winning record on the road something that if we're gonna have a great year that's going to have to change speaking against teams with winning records currently Billy Napier is three and 12 against teams that finish their season over 500 or at 500 and finally he's one in seven against Rivals this year you start with Miami you got to turn that around you've got five opportunities to get more wins against Rivals go and do it but with that said I think those Trends can be reversed this year and definitely should be reversed this year we start off against Miami Miami you have Billy Napier you have Mario chrisal of Miami two coaches in year three who have Rec had the same recruiting opportunities have had the same transfer portals and the same opportunity to develop their players so really what this comes down to is who has built the better program by year three at the respective schools one thing to factor in is Florida does have the home field advantage of course we all know the swamp is probably one of the best if not the best HomeField advantage in college football and I do expect the fans to show up and Sh out this Saturday I'm not going to go too deep into any of these games just give a few thoughts on them to make sure at that we hit our time but also Miami a full preview is coming later on this week Miami is also starting a brand new quarterback in cam Ward who I do think some Gators underrate and then some I think overrate so we'll see where Ward you know comes out Daman Martinez transfers in a running back from uh Oregon State who had a very good year last year now to see if he can do it against SEC as far as Florida goes and ACC play and again I do think the swamp does make a difference I will give a spoiler alert for the Miami prediction show I do think Florida does beat Miami in this game we'll go more into it later on the week the second game we're not going to spend too much time on it is the Samford Bulldogs granted last time they came into Florida they put 50 on the board there were some complicating issues in that such as the defense really was rebelling to the firing of Todd Grantham and then all sorts of stuff got it together in the final few weeks holding Missouri a little bit lower and leading to a win against Florida State I don't want to put too much emphasis on an outlier game like first Sanford this isn't 2021 this isn't the same circumstances I do think Florida beats sford handily A&M comes in in week three first year Under head coach Mike Elco Mike Elco turned Duke around in year one and made them a bit of a threat and was really good in year two a great defensive coach he comes in takes over a talented A&M team they face Notre Dame week one that's why Florida plays play at 3:30 because A&M and Notre Dame took the night slot on ABC and but besides that Mike Elco it's his first SEC game coaching it's on the road it's in the swamp A&M did lose some of their talent they a lot of people think of A&M they think of that big 2022 record-breaking class but a lot of that 22 class has transferred out including five stars Evan Stewart who transferred out and Walter a defensive lineman who transferred out to miss so although they have some Talent this is also a group that comes in and shouldn't be in a first year in their first SEC Road game beating a team that is in year three of a coach much less in a year that has been built toward as we talked about this defense for Florida you know you've got the new coaches one of your old coaches some of your old defense of players and their coordinator came from Florida so if these indeed were some of the problems at Florida we should not be having a hard time with their defense and our offense should be able to at least put some points on the board and of course the home field advantage of the swamp again this is the first SEC game of Mike Elco I do believe Florida should start three and0 then we have L's first rad game of the season going to Starkville for those not familiar with the gator history in Starkville it is not very good um even when we win we struggle and we can talk about whether that's 2018 whether that's 2009 with Timbo or we can go back to 1992 when you know we lose on a Thursday night and Florida doesn't play on a week night again till TW well as far as a week night in the regular season doesn't do that again until 2022 when Florida played Florida State on Black Friday and then Steve sper I believe was 98 or 99 punting on third down because of just a poor performance in Mississippi State Ron Zook 2004 loses in Mississippi state is fired the next week so again Starkville in the last 30 years has not been a great place for the Gators the good news Jeff Levy first first year coach and it's not just hey a first year coach coming in and similar system no Will Rogers the quarterback for the Bulldog since 2020 four years of experience he's gone Jeff Levy comes in this is the third system for Mississippi State in three years you had Mike Leech back in 2022 unfortunately Mike Leech one of my favorites passed away and then last year brought in a coach who wanted to go more towards a pro style system and then this year you have Jeff lebby who's more of a spread guy and has been successful at UCF Oklahoma Old Miss and now takes over as his as an offensive coordinator now takes over as the head coach of the re of not the rebels that's later of the Bulldogs and so it's actually their first SEC game of the season their biggest stess up to that point is an Arizona State team who was three and nine last year so we won't know too too much about them before going in but this is a place 11: a.m. local kickoff that Florida does need to win this is one of those things we talked about you've got to reverse the you know reverse the bad Trends such as two and 10 away from Gainesville this is a good chance to start that first road game of the season against a team that may or may not end up with a 500 record definitely probably what should be on paper the second easiest game on the schedule and a good chance to begin the season 4 and0 I do believe the Gators get that done with that said we're at the first buy and with that we're going to talk about my friends at Alvarez la company Alvarez la company if you're in the central Florida area and you've got any lawn work you need done any lawn projects you're looking forward to doing give my friends at Alvarez Lawn Company a call you can also text them at 407- 4926 17 for a free quote you can also shoot them an email with what you need done at alare long company gmail.com once again the phone number is 40749 2617 and the email address is Alvarez Lawn Company gmail.com Alvarez Lawn Company building plans that work for UCF, Tennessee and Kentucky you now we're going to move to the second section of schedule Florida schedule really breaks down three parts the first four games the middle three games and then the final five games in the middle three games we start off October 5th against the UCF Knights this is a game that is big I don't think in year three you should be losing to a team like UCF yes they have gotten to the power four last year we seven and six in the Big 12 Big 12 is not as hard as the ACC I think the same thing about Miami being seven and six last year in the ACC to me that's kind of akin to flor's five and seven obviously not quite because you have winning record and non-winning record but difficulty wise I think it's a again to floors five and seven in the SEC and so the question is who can make the biggest jump from last year to this year they did bring in K KJ Jefferson who last year took Arkansas into the swamp to beat us however this isn't the same team granted UCF is not the same team however again you have the aura of the swamp you've out recruited UCF for years there's no reason why you should lose this game at home or at least as it stands right now UCF last year terrible against a run 122nd against the Run they did have a good pass defense granted I did ask recently my buddy Roger from the kned ones UCF podcast I said how much of that good pass defense was because other teams don't need to throw the ball against you they you gave up 200 yards rushing a game why would other teams throw the ball so you're gonna decrease air yards against you because teams won't stop running so we'll see about that but also what's the strength of Billy Napier's offenses the Run game so unless UCF has totally short up that uh 122nd ranked Rush defense this is a chance for Florida to let loose Montreal Johnson trayon web and the rest of the backs that we talked about in our offensive preview and again I think the Gars win this one start the season off five and0 then we move to our sixth game of the season and our second rad game this is October 12th nean Stadium it'll either be an l late afternoon or an 8:00 kick one of the few Choice things at or the choice times left on the gator schedule and it will be interesting from what rumors are out there it might be the checker board game it's not it's been the checkered board game for Florida in the past I can tell you Tennessee fans they really hate the Gators and they really hate us for the two wins they have in 19 tries so for them they're going be loud they're going to be rockus and Florida in the last you know four trips to neand Stadium are two and two one of those wins was covid when you didn't have a full Stadium uh definitely was a decent time I was there Florida wearing the blue helmets and of course coming away with the w but with that said Tennessee's got a highly highly talented QB making his first year starting if you're counting we got Miami Miami we've got Mississippi State we've got UCF and now for the fourth time facing a QB in their first year starting at their school with Tennessee and Nico IMA Lea I think I pronounced that right if I didn't oh well it's a Tennessee Vault right just kidding uh well if if you're a vault and you're watching that don't like that leave a comment why not uh but yes Gator 17 and in the last 19 uh nean will be hot for for this again it might be checkerboard might not we'll see uh I do know that Josh hypo can call an offense and of Niko theal deal it's going to be a tough task for this Gator team especially returning receivers Brew McCoy who when he's not been injured the past two seasons has been a pretty good receiver and squirrel white who has and yes his name is squirrel I hope you wouldn't expect much else from a Tennessee Vault but anyways uh who has also been a great receiver for the vs and this is a team that will be tough to play until I see the trends change of you know struggling against teams with winning records because this vs team will finish with a winning record and away from home I'm G to mark this off with a loss this is a very winnable game I will not be shocked if the gator start six and0 but until I see those Tren change I'm going to have the Gators at 5 and one after the first six and then finally for this section of the schedule we have homecoming the Kentucky Wild Cats come to town and let's count it Fifth team now will face with a brand new QB as Kentucky is replacing their offensive coordinator their quarterback and their running back and of course we all know what their running back did to us last year in Lexington I was there I will not forget it but with that said with all the those changes Florida does have to take advantage homecoming does have to take advantage and you can't if your Billy Napier be 0 and3 against Kentucky this is not 0 and three against Georgia or some top tier team this is a team that last year would have had six wins if you didn't lose to them so you got to beat the teams that you have more Talent than and that you've out recruited and this is the chance to again show some Trends are changing in a good direction and I believe the gator can do that um and if they do we're looking at six in one going into Jacksonville personally I think anything less is a tragedy and pointing in a bad Direction especially when you look at the final section of the schedule which we will get into in just a second before we do though I want you to check out our friends at Gator chatter.com Gator chatter is a Florida Gator Message Board where they'll let you talk about anything be the biggest Super Fan pumper you want to be if you feel like you've got to be negative they're G to let you be negative and you know what just chat it out and have a good time that's and I'll be honest a lot of these guys our family if you've never been in a gator chair chat live chat during a game I've been there it's fun seeing the roller coasters of ups and downs I know some people are like oh message boards are for old people Twitter is nothing but in unorganized message board at least with message boards you'll have a game thread and you'll have you know topics and people reply to each other rather than a shotgun blast of whatever you see on your feed with that said I love Twitter SLX whatever you call it now and I love Gator chatter.com check them out Gator chatter your Florida Final Five Games Gator sports bar and now let's get into the final section of the Gator season the first game in this final section is the trip to Jacksonville against the Georgia Bulldogs could we pull off the upset yes I've been there and seen us upset teams before whether that's 2014 whether that's early years of Mark Rick like 2003 which we referenced earlier or you know several other times but with that said until I see that upset I just can't pick it until I see changes in the direction that could be you know we beat Tennessee or we blast Kentucky things that make me believe we'll pull off but with that said you've got to be competitive this is not a we show up get blown out again and we go home happy no you've got to make this a four quarter game and also if you're making a four quarter game with your third year of talent and everything that we've discussed in the you know offense and defensive preview if you're Mak a four quarter game you never know when the pressure on the you know major I believe it's several scores favorites right now when the pressure can just break on them and something Falls your way by making a four-core game you have that chance to pull the upset if it's not a four-score game a you don't have the chance and B doesn't really say much about progress and I want to see that progress and part of that I've said elsewhere is to not be blown out in any game and that includes the trip to Jacksonville and it's not like it's a away game you got half your fans there half Georgia fans at least give your fan some hope and speaking of that the next week you've got to take a trip to Austin Texas first time the Gators have played the Longhorns in Austin and I do believe it's the first matchup overall which is shocking um could be wrong about that I'm sure someone will post in the comments if not please comment down below with that said uh well Texas essentially has three weeks to prepare for the Gators what do I mean by that well two weeks before they play Florida they've got Vanderbilt they out Talent Vanderbilt so much that they can probably start some install for Florida while just F having a little bit of focus on Vanderbilt Come Away with the win the next week Texas has a buy so week two you can start working and really start focusing on Florida and then there's Florida week the week after Meanwhile we're coming off of a game against the Bulldogs win or lose that will be a tough physical game and we're coming into a well-rested Texas team that has had time to prepare for us it's an 11 a local kick which is something that we have struggled with I mentioned that with Mississippi State you go into Texas again until I see these trends change I do think with a team that made the playoffs last year Florida is probably going to lose this game doesn't mean it's not possible again you got to keep it close like I said with Georgia and if you keep it close you never know what could happen you could have someone fumble a snap you could have any sort of things tip ball interception pick six you could just run away with it and that's what we're going to see with this currently Texas is on its third string running back first two running backs are out for the season with various injuries so you never know what could happen there Steve sarkeesian has built a Powerhouse though so I'm not sure if Florida this year gets it done however next year in the swamp I do think it's a great chance for Florida to take it to Texas so at this point I do see the Gators being six and three this next game I do think is a big game game for Billy Napier I mean they're all big games especially Miami but this one as well LSU year three Brian Kelly they lost a ton of talent they're in a transition year they lost two first round receivers and a first round quarterback that's pretty insane you've gone toe-to-toe with them the past two years now they've lost that major offensive Talent their defense has been statistically worse than you last year so can you if you both make equal jumps your defense should be better than theirs and if you're really developing on defense you may be able to jump even further making the Gap bigger between your defenses Meanwhile your offense With The Changes Garrett nus Meer maybe maybe a pretty good quarterback he's not jayen Daniels this is a game that's going to be at the in the swamp another option kickoff between 3:30 and 8:00 so this could be a night game could still be a very good 330 game Florida fans do get loud at 3:30 with that said you really got to beat your Rivals this is at home LSU plays Alabama the week before so where we have some bad luck with who he play the week before how Texas has three weeks to prepare for us you've got granted we're going to have two physical weeks ahead of time but this is not an LSU that's been able to sit back this is an LSU that had Bama at home the week before and in a transition year you've got to break the losing streak to LSU haven't beat LSU since 2018 now is as good of time as any as this will be the weakest LSU team you will face for years I do believe we get that done the more I think about it again with all predictions things could change LSU could get a bigger and a big injury or Florida let's hope not but Florida could have something weird happen you never know so these are based on what I'm seeing right now recording in August then we move to week 11 but at that point I do see Florida as seven and three Old Miss coming off of a buy they do have Georgia uh in week or the week we played Texas they do have Georgia and then LSU week they have a buy and then they come to the swamp so they do have physical game but they get to rest up have two weeks before coming to a swamp this is an Old Miss team that may be playing for a playoff birth last year won 11 games their only two losses were to the two teams that were in the SEC title game and that Georgia Alabama Alabama they LED at the half just really didn't do much in the second half oh and Di menion both those games were were on the road the Georgia game they didn't play close which is not good for them but then they beat Penn stay and the bowl get 11 wins for the first sum in program history and how did they celebrate they went and got the number one transfer portal class according to 247 they've brought in a lot of talent essentially trying to hail Mary for the year and leverage this moment in time as a all Miss shot at a national title I don't know if they do it but I do think that barring some unforeseen circumstances they're going to come into you know the swamp with something to play for whether it's Georgia just embarrassed them for a second year in a row except for this time it was in in Oxford or they've beaten Georgia and now they see some light at the end of the tunnel so they could have revenge on their mind could be seeing light at the end of the tunnel I do think that they're not eliminate eliminated from playoff contention again things could change and I could be wrong about that but if they're not eliminated from playoff contention by the time they come to Gainesville I expect them to be a very very focused team as of right now I think it's a winnable game I do think that many Florida fans see the name Old Miss and just like I said there games like for example Texas A&M who by the way only has three games of 500 or three years or maybe four of 500 or above in the SEC since joinan 2012 really have not been grand the SEC but I think logos like A&M or uh LSU may be overrated in some people's minds this year where I do think Old Miss is an underrated logo this year coming into the swamp by many I do think it's a tough game as of right now and again this could change as of right now I do think Old Miss does come out of Gainesville with the win hopefully not but that still gets Florida a six and one home record for the year which six wins at home is still very very good and more wins than we had all of last year home and away and neutral combined and then we finish up against Florida state Florida State of course week zero loses to Georgia Tech I don't know how to feel about that because Georgia Tech has an their time under Brent key beaten five ranked teams so I don't know if this is an LOL Florida State lost to a bad team or if this is an LOL Florida State lost to a good team either way lol Florida State lost but with that said I don't know where we judge Florida State based on this Georgia Tech Team and also it being week zero yet but with that said one thing that I had been saying that I think is important is that this FSU team is in a transitional year no one really thought dju was going to be a solution or a great replacement at quarterback and he showed that this past week and showed why air yards can matter and air yards of course we talked on the offense which is yards past the line of scrimmage didn't do too much beyond the line of scrimmage and the FSU offense suffered because of it also we've been o and were 0 and2 under Billy Napier against the simal however both games have been close and so this is a year where they're transitioning even though we're in DOP Campbell Stadium you've got to come out and get the win and you've got to beat Rivals I do think this year you've got to come away with a winning record against Rivals all your rivalry games with maybe the exception of Georgia are winnable I do think you can beat Tennessee on the road although I have not predicted yet again things can happen I do think it's winnable I do think it's a close game but I do think you will and should beat Miami I do think you will and should beat LSU and I definitely think you should be able to go on the road and beat FSU beating FSU uh we talked at the beginning about the two and 10 away from Gainesville that shows a change that gives hope we talked about the uh 3 and 12 against teams finishing with a win winning record FSU will probably finish with a winning record that shows a change in that and we talked about the one and seven against Rivals that shows a change for the better in that so the FSU game is a way to get a just full sweep of changing some negatives into positives and showing that growth for the future we want to see I have predicted several places including respect our decision that we finish seven and five going through this I really think it should be eight and4 based on you know how the other teams are who's at home who's away um you know who's in a transitional year as I've gone through and described although I could see seven and five because Florida and this has been said for years uh not just under Billy Napier it's been said you know even going back to some previous good coaches Florida somehow finds a way many years to lose a game they shouldn't you know whether we're talking about Old Miss in 2008 for an example of one during a national title year or you know we're talking about losing to a Georgia Southern 2013 not that I want to remind that um or you know missing a field goal and then not doing well in overtime against Arkansas last year sometimes UF finds a way to lose a game they shouldn't I'd love for that to be not the case this year year but that's where I could see seven and five happening after rethinking everything going through relooking at everything since I've predicted seven and five but I will up that to eight and four um I do think that the bottom line now I don't have any control over this but I do think the bottom line is you've got to go seven and five Why seven and five among or forgetting everything else you've got to guarantee a winning record in the regular season I'm not for saying another losing record is cool even if it's a fluky bowl game that makes a six and seven a coach's job is to come to Florida and win every program to win a National Title in the 12 game era of college football with 12 regular season games has won 10 games by year three many of us have said you know will take seven and five as a baseline for year three here as long as there's a major jump in year four if we're willing to you know forget what the metrics say you need to do by year three definitely got to get a winning record and to do that don't let there be a chance of some fluky bull game get to seven and five I do think the Gators can get T and four but that is my rant on the record I do get a question about it a lot actually but with that said it's definitely definitely a good time to you know look forward to a season uh Florida football season is fun it's we only get 12 guaranteed games of these year hopefully we get 13 14 and then sometime in the future hopefully the near future we get you know 13 plus three 16 total games and get to that national title game again and with that said you know for this year let's just show that progress in both when and reversing those trends that I talked about earlier and with that we can be happy looking towards the future and definitely expecting big things in 2025 and so you know I'm happy that The Season's almost here can't wait to do the Miami preview can't wait to be in the swamp on Saturday if you agree with me disagree if you have questions I do answer any comments down in the comment section leave a comment be sure to like be sure to share with friends and subscribe if you have not I said I wanted the goal was to be 200 subscribers by the time the season kicked off I would love to see uh 250 just because we've surpassed the 200 goals so what's the next goal 250 subscribers but that's all because of you and again thank you for uh making the past few episodes the biggest ever for this podcast with that said thank you everybody for listening and as always go Gators [Music]