Florida’s 3-1 start in 2023 featured an upset win over Tennessee, but the Gators will have to do more to warrant any consideration for a decent bowl game at the end of the season.
ESPN staff writers Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach updated their bowl projections following Week 4 action, and Florida’s options are… underwhelming.
Schlabach has Florida playing against Louisville in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, while Bonagura has UF playing the Duke Blue Devils in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl. Neither option is a major step forward from the Gasparilla and Las Vegas Bowls of years past, but playing in a major bowl game will be tough with FSU and Georgia looming on the schedule.
Both analysts expect Georgia to make the College Football Playoff and for Florida State to end up in a New Year’s Six bowl game. LSU is also a fringe candidate for the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl right now (Schlabach), which gives Florida yet another path to national relevancy at season’s end.
First comes Kentucky, though, which likely won’t move the needle much for Bonagura or Schalbach, who have the Wildcats playing in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl and the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, respectively.
If Florida can take care of Kentucky and South Carolina on the road and Vanderbilt at home, the program will be bowl-eligible entering the pre-Georgia bye week. Going 3-0 over the next three weeks seems doable on paper, but the team will have to stay locked in to get the job done.
Maybe then Bonagura and Schlabach will project Florida to play in a more meaningful bowl game.
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