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Florida football: Storylines, headlines, how to watch and more vs Vandy

By Matthew Clark

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 02: Lamical Perine #2 of the Florida Gators rushes during a game against the Georgia Bulldogs on November 02, 2019 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 02: Lamical Perine #2 of the Florida Gators rushes during a game against the Georgia Bulldogs on November 02, 2019 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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The Florida football team returns home after about a month-long absence. Despite the road trip, the Gators are still ranked No. 10 in the country.

Finally, Florida football returns to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium after what was supposed to be a brutal October.

The Gators only lost to No. 1 LSU and No. 6 Georgia and are still in contention for a New Year’s Six bowl game. Florida football also has an outside shot at the SEC East as Georgia still has plenty of SEC games to get tripped up on.

Speaking of, all of this will be for naught if the Gators trip up against Vanderbilt today.

The Commodores are back to their old form of hovering toward the bottom of most offensive and defensive categories.

So, that means this is not a team Florida should be overlooking as Missouri looms the following week in Columbia.

It would be a great rebound for Florida football to come in and dominate the Commodores. Restore confidence, set things back to normal and prepare to close out the season strong.

With that, here’s all you need to know about today’s game with Vanderbilt:

Storylines

Florida: Today’s game is a character game for Florida football. Coming off a 24-17 rival loss to Georgia last week, the Gators can right the ship against Vanderbilt.

Florida Gators Football
Florida Gators Football /

Florida Gators Football

The Gators still quite a bit to play for as they come into the game ranked No. 10 in the first CFP rankings of the season. With teams ranked ahead of them playing each other, Florida football can take advantage by winning and moving up the rankings.

Winning also puts Florida on track for another 10-win season as well as another 6-win conference slate. Oh, and not to mention a New Year’s Six bowl game which is also very much in the picture for Florida football.

The Gators are near fully healthy as both Jabari Zuniga and Jonathan Greenard should be closer to full strength. Only Jeremiah Moon (out for the season) and Amari Burney (out indefinitely) are not playing today along with others who have been previously out for the season.

Vanderbilt: It has been another long season for Derek Mason and the Commodores. To make matters worse, concussions have knocked out both Mo Hasan and Riley Neal, meaning the Commodores will play one of the toughest defenses in the SEC and the country with a third-string quarterback.

On a bright note for Vanderbilt, they do have wide receiver Kalija Lipscomb back after he sat out last week against South Carolina, for some reason.

Regardless, this has all the makings for a rough day for the Commodores.

Headlines

Connections

Florida football head coach Dan Mullen has only faced Derek Mason once — in 2014 when Mullen was at Mississippi State and Mason was in his first year at Vanderbilt. The result, a 51-0 win for Mullen.

Gators’ defensive line coach David Turner was the recruiting coordinator and D-line coach at Vanderbilt from 2002-2005.

How to watch

  • Time and Date: 12 p.m., Nov. 9.
  • Location: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (Gainesville, Florida).
  • TV: ESPN with Bob Wischusen, Dan Orlovsky and Allison Williams.
  • Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network with Mick Hubert, Lee McGriff and Tate Casey.
  • Satellite: Sirius Ch. 81/XM Ch. 81.

The line

The consensus according to The Action Network is Florida football at -27, which is about to be expected considering it’s a return home after a long absence and it’s the worst team in the Southeastern Conference.

The weather

While most of the country suffers through an Arctic blast, Gainesville promises to be relatively mild. According to The Weather Channel, after a cooler Friday, temperatures at kickoff should be around 71 degrees with wind out of the north-northeast at 11 mph. Very little chance for rain. It should be a very comfortable day for Florida football.

The Last Line

This could very well be a trap game for Florida football if they don’t bring the “A” game today. I don’t see them looking past Vanderbilt to Missouri. The Gators need a rebound and the Commodores are the perfect way to do that. The pieces are there to run amok, literally (please, can we get a running game established today) and figuratively. Go Gators.

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No. 10 Florida kicks off at noon today against Vanderbilt at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

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