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It’s no secret that expectations surrounding coach Dan Mullen and the Florida Gators heading into the 2020 season are high.
Mullen is 21-5 in two years at Florida with two New Year’s Six Bowl wins, and many believe this will be the year the Gators go from conference title contention to national title contention.
But while it’s easy to look at UF’s schedule in 2020 (which appears to line up favorably) and imagine the best-case scenarios, it’s also worth considering where the floor is this fall.
The USA TODAY Network released predicted best-case and worst-case scenarios for each SEC team, and the projections, written by the Gainesville Sun’s Robbie Andreu, demonstrates a wide range of possible outcomes for UF.
Florida
Best case: 10-0
If the Gators can successfully navigate their way through the pandemic and keep everyone on the field, they’ll have a chance to win every game. The offense should be potent with the quarterback combination of Kyle Trask and dual-threat Emory Jones operating behind a more experienced offensive line. The defense is fast and athletic and could be one of the best coordinator Todd Grantham has put on the field.
Worst case: 6-4
The Gators enter the season with all kinds of momentum coming off a second consecutive top-10 season under coach Dan Mullen. But that momentum could come to an abrupt end if they falter in that opening trap game at Ole Miss against coach Lane Kiffin. If UF takes a loss there, the Gators then have at least three more possible losses (at Texas A&M, LSU and Georgia). Kentucky and Tennessee also are far from guaranteed wins.
— Robbie Andreu
While it seems highly unlikely Florida will be able to navigate 10 conference games and remain unblemished, a four-loss season also seems unlikely. Losses to Texas A&M, LSU and Georgia would render the season an abject failure, and a fourth loss would add insult to injury.
But at the same time, losing all three of those games and also dropping a game to Ole Miss, Kentucky or Tennessee doesn’t seem like a probable outcome given the talent UF returns.
Ultimately, the actual outcome will almost certainly fall somewhere in between, but now that the Big Ten is back, the Gators have a much thinner margin for error if they want to make the College Football Playoff.
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