Miami vs Florida | College Football Week 1 Game Preview

week one of college football is always so exciting because you have so many things that you've been waiting for so many teams that you've been ready to watch and having a rivalry game almost makes it I W say too much but also it just makes it a peak experience Miami and Florida playing in week one makes week one so much more intriguing you have a number of exciting games but having two Rivals go against each other just makes it that much sweeter we'll take a look at what these teams should expect in 2024 but also look at what we're going to expect in this game now the Miami Hurricanes feel like they are going to be a college football playoff Contender and that's what makes them a little bit different than the Florida Gators everyone has been talking about the Florida Gator schedule everyone is kind of intrigued of can Billy Napier keep his job there's a lot of different perspectives different narratives surrounding these two teams Miami it feels like it's more positive K Mario Christal turn that Talent he's recruited into a contender and then on the other side is what's wrong with Florida is Billy nebor going to get fired is the schedule too difficult and now you get a chance to either feed into those narratives or dispute them and that's what makes this game so intriguing now Florida obviously is coming off a five and seven season a year in which the offense kind of struggled and and the defense I I wouldn't say was terrible but also definitely had plenty of weak spots now you get a chance in 2024 to again dispute some of those narratives and make 2024 different than 2023 on the opposite side Miami is coming off a seven- six season definitely had some really bright spots but also had certain games the Georgia Tech game where you kind of felt like what are we doing and Mario PR ball definitely has his own set of challenges to overcome there are definitely some questions surrounding his abilities but now you get a chance to actually put it on the field that's the beauty of week one is we finally get to stop talking about all these different hypotheticals we finally get to put some of those things to bed we finally get to see actually some objective data to go on and that's really exciting and having a game like this makes it even better because you have two teams that it's going to be chippy it's going to be passionate it's going to be full of emotions and that's what makes college football so great Miami is currently 2 Half Point favorite which again with the narrative surrounding Florida and Miami Miami is definitely like I said on the positive side Florida's been on the more negative side but now we're kind of seeing people are saying well yes Florida schedule is difficult but what if they find a way to make a bowl game what if they find a way to win seven or eight games and that's a reason why this this line is so low because Florida has plenty of talent and because this is a rival game it's going to be closer probably Than People expect if one of these teams teames finds the way to pull away then that's what makes this a little bit different than You're Expecting but a two and a half point line is very interesting and there's not going to be a prediction for this one we have a video coming out later in the week that is going to predict every week one game so stay tuned for that to find out the prediction for that game now the questions for both of these programs are very interesting and for the Miami Hurricanes the biggest thing is going to be is Cam word actually the difference and team youve looked at what this team has needed and obviously it's not just the quarterback position but the quarterback position is such an important one and you didn't feel good about coming into this year with what you had so you felt like Miami needed to get a transfer quarterback now they did get a transfer quarterback but it was not cam Ward and when you get someone from the FCS level I think that you have certain questions about him especially if you're a Miami fan and they just didn't feel like that was a good spot for them to be in cam Ward was thinking about going pro and ultimately decided to hit the transfer portal out of Washington state Miami went after him hard and now he finds himself leading the Hurricanes offense thing is going to be it's going along with that question or one of the questions coming this year is is going to be our napors guys ready for the challenge this is going to be a tough schedule that is not really disputable but it's going to be a question is has Billy naier brought in the right Talent of players and the right guys that have the right mindset to navigate a challenging schedule and if they do then you're not really worried about all this season is going to go if you have a bunch of tough-minded individuals who are ready to handle adversity then you feel like you're in a good position now it's probably not going to be a team that competes for a college football playoff spot but this is a team that can exceed expectations that's going to be something that they're looking to do they are looking to prove everybody wrong against this schedule and that's obviously going to be difficult but at the same time if you have the right guys in place doesn't matter what everyone else else's expectations are if you have a different mindset and if you have the right guys in place the matchup that I'm curious to watch with this is going to be Miami's wide receivers against Florida's secondary this is a good set of wide receivers for the Miami Hurricanes you have Xavier Restrepo you have Jobe George you have Sam Brown coming in from Houston those are three guys that are going to make life very difficult and Florida secondary has a number of players that are really exciting when you look at I think you look at Jason Marshall Jr he is someone who could play potentially play back in to being an NFL pick and someone who had a good start to his career but maybe you know has fallen off a little bit over the last couple of seasons and he is going to have his hands full that secondary is going to have their hands full but I'm excited to see how they handle that challenge again if you have the right players in place does not matter who you face they are going to be ready now Florida has a number of talented players everything is going to start with graham Merz now Graham Merz is going to be under the spotlight because everyone I think a lot of people because you have DJ lagway coming in everyone's just saying oh well how much time before DJ lagway starts how much time before we see gr Merz sit grah Ms while he's probably not one one of the most electric players in college football had a pretty good season last year threw for over 2,900 yards had 20 touchdowns only through three picks there's not going to say that's the best season but there's there's a lot worse ways you could have a lot worse players you could have at the quarterback position so maybe yeah it's not the best that you've seen it's definitely not the best you've seen in Florida history but you definitely could do a lot worse than Graham Merz that's for sure now maybe DJ leue eventually takes over you know we're going to see him even with Grammer at starting you're going to see him in the offense but Graham Merz could be a very good quarterback for the Florida Gator this year Montell Johnson it sounds like he's going to still play it sounds like he is after his his procedure is still going to play in this game we'll see how much of that is true we'll see if that actually happens but if he is back you feel better about the running back depth you don't have to tap into someone who's less experienced than him especially with Trevor etn departing in the transfer portal so that's definitely something to keep an eye on even before the game starts Trey Wilson I think is set for a big year he is such a good talent someone who kind of flew under the radar last year 538 yard yards and six touchdowns you also bring in Elijah Badger from Arizona State that's another player who does not get the recognition that he deserves goes to Florida if that passing attack is good it's because Trey Wilson and Elijah Badger are doing their things we talked about Jason Marshall he is gonna have his hands full that's not unexpected people know exactly what Miami wants to do and they know the talent level that the hurricanes have and Jason Marshall is going to have to cover a lot of those guys but I'm excited to see how that matchup plays out for Miami Ruben Bane is the guy to keep an eye on Ruben Bane is an absolute stud going to be a absolute an absolute Force for Miami this year on the defensive line that's a defensive line that has a ton of talent and they are going to be a big reason why Miami either has success in this game in disrupting Florida's offense or it's going to be a question of do we have the right guys in place I think you're going to lead more the former than the ladder but we'll find out and Ruben Bane's going to be a really exciting player to watch a future NFL draft pick for sure maybe even a first round pick when it's all said and done we'll see what he can do this year 63 275 lbs has good size has great power and he is going to be an absolute Force like I said for Miami cam W comes in from Washington State there are a lot of questions surrounding him but most of them are going to be positive answers can he be the electric quarterback that this team needs to be I think he is a great fit for Shannon Dawson's offense now it's just a matter if if Dawson actually gets full Reigns of the decision- making for the quarterbacks and for this offense but if he is I feel really good about where this offense is going Xavier stpo is one of the guys he'll throw to jacobe George Sam Brown that's a trio that a lot of teams would love to have even with the loss of Kobe young this is probably going to be one of the best passing attacks in college football assuming that the things we just talked about do happen the other guy in defense besides Ruby B to keep an eye out Francisco mauigoa an abolute heat seeking missile on the defensive side of the ball 82 tackles last year 18 tackles for loss seven and a half sacks this is a guy who knows how to get to the ball carrier he knows how to get to the quarterback and he knows how to make plays he will send a message at any point and that's really fun to watch and that's what Miami needs this is the defense underland skidy that is going to be aggressive that has plenty of talent they brought in plenty of talent from the transfer portal and you feel really good about where they're at now playing floor in week one is always going to present some challenges that's just is what it is but this is a very exciting game for both teams for Miami it gets you off to a good start with a win to get that college football playoff spot on the road on the way I should say that is going to be a fun way to start your year for Florida a win helps you exceed expectations be before you even get halfway through the season you're getting one game in and you're saying hey we don't care about your expectations this is what our team's about so there's definitely plenty of opportunities for both sides and there's going to be a lot to watch in this game it's a rivalry game so everyone's intrigued about that but there are two teams that have different sets of expectations from the college football world and if they're able to win it says a lot about each team and we'll find out a lot about both of them when this one's over