The Florida Gators are focused on beating the Arkansas Razorbacks this weekend and securing bowl eligibility, but the folks at ESPN are already looking ahead to what the postseason matchups might look like.
In fairness, Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach have been updating these projections since dropping the preseason edition at the end of August. No need to stop now, especially with the College Football Playoff rankings now in play.
The Gators are still projected to land in either the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl (Bonagura) or the Duke’s Mayo Bowl (Schlabach); however, both prognosticators have switched up Florida’s projected opponent in this week’s update.
Instead of Notre Dame, Bonagura has the North Carolina Tarheels traveling to Jacksonville to face Florida in the Gator Bowl, and Schlabach has replaced Clemson with Georgia Tech.
Assuming Florida gets the job done against Arkansas, the Gators will have three opportunities to pull off an upset and change their fate. Facing LSU and Missouri on the road won’t be easy. Hosting a top-five-ranked Florida State team to close out the regular season doesn’t sound much fun either.
If the Gators can win one of those three games, expect the projections to shake up significantly.
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