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We’re just over two weeks from the scheduled beginning of the SEC season and the end of an eclectic offseason. National writers are making their preseason College Football Playoff predictions, and with a switch to mostly conference-only schedules in the Power Five, the uncertainty has landed some new playoff contenders on those watchlists.
One of these teams is Florida. The Gators have won 21 games in the first two years under coach Dan Mullen, but they haven’t yet taken the next step in becoming a true playoff threat.
Some expect that to change this year, though. In his rundown of teams contending for this year’s national title, CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli sees UF as a team that is a “prominent contender,” alongside Georgia, LSU, Notre Dame and Oklahoma.
Here’s what Fornelli said about Florida.
Of these four, Florida is the only one that hasn’t reached the playoff yet. That could end this season. It has a legit shot at winning the SEC East. The team improved a lot in Dan Mullen’s second season, and we shouldn’t overlook how much more important it might be to have a returning starter at quarterback the team has confidence in this year as opposed to years past. Unfortunately for the Gators, the one thing that separates them from being a team that’s a real title threat in my eyes is the talent gap between them and the others mentioned in this space. According to 247Sports’ Team Talent rankings, no team I included on this list is less talented than Florida at No. 16 overall. That’s not a knock on the Gators’ talent as much as it’s a statement about how freaking hard it is to be good enough to win a national title.
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