This game doesn’t quite carry the same weight it looked like it would a week ago. Instead of entering the SEC Championship Game against Alabama with one loss looking to seal a berth in the College Football Playoff, the Gators slouched in their final regular-season game.
They dropped a wild 37-34 contest to LSU in which the Tigers had just a 0.6% postgame win expectancy, according to the SP+ metric created by ESPN’s Bill Connelly.
Now, UF hopes to just preserve its spot in a New Year’s Six Bowl against the undefeated Crimson Tide, who are the No. 1 team in the country. Alabama blew out both Texas A&M and LSU, Florida’s two losses, and the Gators will need to muster their strongest performance of the season by far to win on Saturday.
Though toppling the Tide seems a tall task, this game is replete with storylines. Here are five to keep an eye on.