Florida struggled a bit defensively in the first half against Tennessee on Saturday night, and that caused the game to be closer at the half than many expected. But the Gators tightened up and eventually won comfortably, 38-14. It was a solid encore to the game that earned a lot of national street cred for Florida when it was a two-point conversion away from potentially forcing overtime against Alabama.
UF is likely to crack the top 10 in both polls this week, and it is generally considered to be the best team in the SEC after Alabama and Georgia, especially after Texas A&M’s loss to Arkansas on Saturday.
But The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach is even higher on Florida than most. In her updated top 10 after Week 4, she has the Gators as the No. 3 team behind their two aforementioned conference peers. Here’s her take on UF.
Emory Jones and company took care of business Saturday against an overmatched Tennessee team, winning 38-14 in the Swamp. The biggest takeaway I had from this game was that the Gators avoided a letdown after playing Alabama so tight a week ago. Another bright spot: Even though he didn’t play Anthony Richardson, head coach Dan Mullen said that the dynamic quarterback could have played against the Vols and would be 100 percent by Monday’s practice. That’s potentially bigger than anything that happened on the field on Saturday.
Florida certainly avoided a letdown, and as Auerbach mentioned, it did so without perhaps its biggest offensive X-factor in Richardson. Jones took care of business under center, but this offense only becomes more potent when Richardson is available to play.
The Gators will likely be favorites in all their remaining regular-season games except Georgia, and if they can upset the Bulldogs and win out, it will likely set up a de-facto playoff quarterfinal in the SEC Championship against Alabama.
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