Gators Wire Predictions: Will Florida be able to beat Georgia this year?

Florida fans are understandably wary about this game.

The Gators haven’t earned a victory in the heated rivalry since 2016, and even with the strides the program has taken since Dan Mullen took the helm two years ago, it hasn’t been enough to overtake Georgia in the SEC East.

Until now.

I was wrong about this game last year. I thought Florida would beat the Bulldogs.

It didn’t. The Gators lost by seven, and the game wasn’t even that close in actuality. I underestimated how much the talent gap between the squads, especially in the trenches, would be apparent.

The same concerns still exist this time around, but this isn’t the same Georgia team as last year. Former quarterback Jake Fromm wasn’t elite, but he took care of the ball and prevented UF from swinging the momentum in its favor last year.

Now, that position is a point of concern. Stetson Bennett, who took over the starting role midway through the season opener, has been mistake-prone, and the Georgia offense has struggled in turn.

Meanwhile, Florida’s offense is among the best in the country. Quarterback Kyle Trask is in the running for the Heisman Trophy, and he’s leading a unit that’s just about unstoppable right now.

He faces a Bulldogs defense that will be shorthanded, including the absence of star safety Richard Lecounte. With him out, Georgia’s defense may be on its heels all game.

The only thing holding the Gators back at the moment is their defense, but there’s reason to be optimistic on that front. Last week, even without three starters in the secondary, Florida’s defense took a major step forward.

It held Missouri to 248 yards of offense and three offensive points until garbage time. If that trend continues, it could be a long afternoon for Georgia.

The Bulldogs still have a talent advantage, but that gap gets slimmer and slimmer by the year. In 2020, with the quarterback situation in flux, Florida has a chance to assert itself as the premier team in the SEC East.

It will take a similar defensive performance to what UF saw last week, but the Gators end their three-game losing streak in the series.