Florida football: Saturday’s chaos should keep Gators on toes for EWU
Billy Napier and the rest of Florida football had the rare opportunity on Saturday to stay home and watch college football from the couch due to having the contest vs Eastern Washington pushed back to today.
If they were paying attention to what they were watching, they would know to take nothing for granted heading into kickoff today.
Florida football: Find an excuse to get mad
On paper, Eastern Washington can’t tackle and shouldn’t provide too much resistance to Anthony Richardson and friends.
Among Power Five schools alone however, nine teams were Vegas underdogs that ended up outright winning yesterday. This includes our neighbors to the west losing by 10 to Wake Forest despite being six-point favorites, TCU beating Oklahoma by 21 despite a 5.5-point cushion, and Georgia Tech beating Pitt as 21-point underdogs.
Another six underdogs in the Power Five managed to cover their spread, including Missouri nearly pulling off the upset over Georgia despite a pregame line of 30 points.
What this means for Florida football is despite being heavy favorites today against Eastern Washington, the Gators have to earn an easy win today. Most previews of the Eagles’ offense note their spread formations, but they run a heavy set formation that Florida has struggled against this season.
And this is where Billy Napier’s consistency will face an early test. One of the things that have made Nick Saban and Alabama as dominant as they have been over the past decade and a half is that when faced with an FCS or Group of Five opponent they show zero mercy. It can be 59-0 and Saban will still have a conniption on the sideline because of a missed field goal.
Moving the game to today means that Napier and everyone involved with Florida football have to bring their own energy. They can’t count on The Swamp to do it for them today.
A blowout win today can’t erase the near debacle against USF, but it can help show that the Florida Gators learned a lesson from that game. And with a remaining schedule that feels very navigable after yesterday’s action, a blowout win can help set Florida football on the right course for the back half of the season.