The Florida Gators are among the USA TODAY Sports’ list of “biggest disappointments” list for the 2022 college football season.
The Gators had an up-and-down first half of the season. They came out of the gate swinging with an upset win over the defending Pac-12 champion Utah Utes in [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag]’s first game as Florida’s head coach. They then lost to Kentucky and barely got a win over in-state rival USF. Their close loss to Tennessee paired with their win over Eastern Washington caused expectations to stabilize.
Florida seemed to find its form after a great month that saw the Gators play well in stretches of their losses to LSU and Georgia, and play very well in victories over Texas A&M and South Carolina. They then seemed to collapse in their losses against Vanderbilt and Florida State to end the season.
Here is what USA TODAY Sports’ Paul Myerberg said about the Gators’ 6-6 finish:
No one expected Florida to challenge Georgia in the SEC East under first-year coach Billy Napier. But the Gators finished fifth in the division by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker with Missouri and lost every game that mattered from a rivalry perspective: Kentucky, Tennessee, LSU, Georgia and Florida State. Oh, and they lost to Vanderbilt.
Not only is everything Myerberg said correct, but he forgot to mention that all of their losses came against teams that they are competing against, both on the field and in recruiting.
The Gators now await their bowl assignment, as they attempt to finish the season with a winning record. The College Football Playoffs Selection Show will announce the four playoff teams on Sunday, followed by the New Year’s Six bowl game participants. After that, the individual bowl games will announce their participants on Sunday afternoon.
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