The start of Florida football’s 2022 campaign is right around the corner as the Gator Nation gears up for the opening season of the [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] era. A lot has changed in the Swamp since the departure of [autotag]Dan Mullen[/autotag], from the top brass of the program down to the players, the latter of whom have shuffled in and out via the transfer portal.
Looking ahead to next month and those that follow, the Gators appear to have an easier schedule than they did in 2021, which included a Week 3 face-off with the eventual SEC champions and national title runners-up Alabama Crimson Tide as well as the annual meeting with the nation championship-winning Georgia Bulldogs. However, this time around it is the non-conference slate that appears to be a bit challenging.
Jerry Palm of CBS Sports took a look at the toughest and weakest non-conference schedules for all of the FBS schools, with Florida earning the hardest designation for the SEC. Here is Palm’s brief explanation for his choice.
The Gators will open by hosting Utah, the reigning Pac-12 champions and the favorite to repeat atop the league. They will also host South Florida and travel to Florida State.
Obviously, Palm’s take is highly skewed by the fact that the Utah Utes come to Gainesville ranked in the top 10, as opposed to USF and FSU, which finished last season with 2-10 and 5-7 records, respectively — though the latter will be played on the road in Tallahassee this year.
This is all conjecture until the cleats meet the grass this fall, but even if the assessment is correct, this is not exactly a daunting hurdle to overcome. It could work against the Gators if the rest of the conference is busy playing cupcakes, but at the end of the day, the team has to win the games that it plays.
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