Florida Football: Week three confidence meter for Gators brings new hope
![Florida Gators wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (1) celebrates after catching a touchdown during the first half against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, November 12, 2022. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun]Ncaa Football Florida Gators Vs South Carolina GamecocksSyndication Gator Sports](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2F67aeee10a0f739f17d0e562ccbbd0b61a5a3a5010a3b47c2557fbbdbf66bdb60.jpg "Florida Gators wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (1) celebrates after catching a touchdown during the first half against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, November 12, 2022. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun]Ncaa Football Florida Gators Vs South Carolina GamecocksSyndication Gator Sports")
Before the start of the season, we rolled out our confidence meter for all 12 Florida football games. Our confidence meter last week was 100%, and it held true to form as the Gators rolled over McNeese State with zero resistance.
So, as the season progresses, we are going to update our meter to reflect the play of the Gators as well as the play of the teams on their schedule.
As we pointed out in our preseason confidence meter, just because we put a percentage over 50% doesn’t mean that we are betting the house on the Gators winning. It just means if Florida stays clean and avoids the dumb penalties like they took against Utah, we like their chances to win.
Florida Football Confidence Meter Week Three: Tennessee
- Last Season: Tennessee won 38-33
- HFH Confidence Meter Preseason: 45%
- HFH Confidence Meter Last Week: 45%
- HFH Confidence Meter Presently: 50%
We weren’t completely sold on Tennessee’s effort against Virginia. The high-powered Volunteer offense, with Joe Milton leading the way, struggled to get going in the first half.
After struggling against Austin Peay on Saturday, we are even less sold on Tennessee.
It took a touchdown with 20 seconds left in the first half to not go into halftime tied on Saturday.
With 10 minutes to go in the game, Tennessee still only had a 23-13 lead.
One of the early narratives for Tennessee is that while Milton has a strong arm, he isn’t accurate enough with any consistency to viably use it. Milton right now has a yards per passing attempt of 6.8 yards, only 89th in the country.
Mertz is 45th at 8.6 yards per attempt if you are keeping score.
Tennessee right now has had to lean on its running game between the tackles. This time last year, this would have been a massive problem for the Gators.
But in 2023 with Austin Armstrong leading the defense, we are starting to like Florida’s chances.