Even after getting beaten by USF and LSU, the Florida Gators are only a 7.5-point underdog to Miami ahead of Gameday coming to town this Saturday. So while most Gator fans seem to think Florida has no shot, Vegas oddsmakers always have this weird way of being right more times than not.
But losing by 7.5 and actually winning are two different things, and if Florida is to have any shot at pulling off the upset, these are four things that need to go right inside Hard Rock Stadium.
Run the Baugh
You know what one remedy is for throwing five interceptions?
Don't throw the ball 49 times.
Despite coming into this season thinking Florida had a deep running back room, the Gators have seemed unwilling to lean on their ground game. Part of the problem is that teams are loading up the box and are daring the Gators to try and beat them over the top, but the box wasn't so loaded against LSU that it made sense only to give Jadan Baugh ten carries.
If Florida's defense can hold up like it did against USF and LSU, Florida's main pathway might be just to drag things out and try to win on the ground.
Pressure on Carson Beck
Most Gator fans probably still have the vision in their head of Carson Beck throwing three interceptions against Florida last year. But to this point of the season, Beck appears to have left that version in the past.
If there is one area Florida can try to exploit coming out of the USF game, and there were not many, it's the fact that Beck threw two interceptions, and both of them came when USF blitzed.
Mind you, Beck was eight for ten overall when USF blitzed, but it does paint a picture of the Gators could try to force mistakes to give him a sense of deja vu.
Do litteraly anything different
This is just a rehash of what we said prior to the LSU game, and frankly, a rehash of everything we said of the Billy Napier Era, but the Gators have to throw in some wrinkles if they have any hope of keeping Miami off balance.
Remember last year when Miami said they knew the plays Florida was going to run? That same theme popped up against USF, and we are convinced LSU knew as well.
Because, as bad as the five INTs for Lagway were, a massive part of the problem is that LSU was sitting on every single underneath route and had zero fear of getting beat over the top.
So if Gator wide receivers can throw in any kind of double move to get Miami to bite on a slant, a deep shot might be available.
Defensive tackles break out
The loss of Caleb Banks is problematic for a ton of reasons, but among them is the fact that Florida now has to lean on two freshmen in the trenches as part of their main rotation at defensive tackle.
Banks by himself has more career snaps than the other four guys who made up Florida's rotation on Saturday.
The thing for Miami is that in their games against Notre Dame and USF, they ran the ball 55% of the time, and while they were effective enough, they will still be at just 4.3 yards per rush.
If Florida's depleted DT's get run over and start giving up 5 or more yards per rush, the Gators have zero shot. If they can hold the line to under four yards a carry, then there is hope.