Florida Football: Beating FSU is a necessity, not a luxury for Gators

There are some years where the Florida Gators head into its annual matchup with FSU where beating the Seminoles is for bragging rights and nothing else. Take last year for example. Florida football was without a coach and while winning to qualify for a bowl game was nice, it didn’t do much to wash the taste of the season away.

This year however, with the odds stacked squarely against Florida, a win over the Neighbors to the West is about the only thing that can salvage this season from being a massive disappointment.

Florida Football: Black Friday Showdown

After the win over Utah, it felt like anything was possible for this season for Florida football.

Kentucky quickly popped that bubble.

Even after the loss to Georgia, Florida had a pathway to win out and finish 8-4.

Vanderbilt popped that bubble.

FSU now enters the picture, feeling like they have their own ship turned around and ready to take back control of the state of Florida.

For Billy Napier and crew, beating FSU is the difference between having some momentum heading into the offseason and having questions begin to swirl “Did Florida football actually get an upgrade from Dan Mullen to Billy Napier?”

The Gators were a dumpster fire last year and still went 6-6 with a win over FSU. The off-season will not be kind to Florida if it once again goes 6-6 with losses to Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and FSU.

One could craft a narrative that Florida lost to Vanderbilt because it was a trap game and the Gators got caught looking ahead. In order for that narrative to fully play out, Florida has to demonstrate on Friday night that it was in fact looking ahead.

Beating the Seminoles won’t atone for the disaster in Nashville, but it will give hope that next year will in fact be a leap one for Florida.

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