Gators actually get some surprise love from College GameDay

Host Desmond Howard arrives for ESPN College GameDay ahead of the University of Oklahoma-Michigan College football game on Sep 6, 2025 in Norman.
Host Desmond Howard arrives for ESPN College GameDay ahead of the University of Oklahoma-Michigan College football game on Sep 6, 2025 in Norman. | Steve Sisney/For The Oklahoman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

It has felt like nothing has gone right for the Gators over the past month. Florida has fallen to 1-3, and Billy Napier might be on his way out the door if things go south today inside The Swamp.

Yet College GameDay isn't ready to completely bury the Gators and actually made a couple of picks for Florida to pull the upset.

Florida gets two picks to beat Texas

DJ Lagway has been among the problems for Florida's stagnant offense, but ESPN analyst Desmond Howard thinks he can turn it around today to beat Texas:

"We touched upon the Gators' defense earlier. I think that DJ Lagway comes out of the fog and plays well enough for them to get the win in Gainesville over Texas."

Meanwhile, celebrity guest picker Theo Von wasn't aware what game he was picking and went on a side rant about Vanderbilt before noting that he was a Billy Napier fan from his time at Louisiana, and Von also picked the Gators to win.

Nick Saban, Pat McAfee, and Kirk Herbstreit all picked Texas, with a theme that Arch Manning would piece together and the fact that defense tends to travel, and Texas does have a great defense.

As we noted in our pregame predictions, it's not totally insane to pick Florida, even with the problems we have chronicled at length.

If Manning is off at all, Florida has shown the ability to hang around with its own defense. Yes, the biggest issue Florida is going to have today is whether its offense can do anything against Texas, but what wasn't mentioned, and what could be an X-Factor today, is Vernell Brown III popping a big punt return as well as the formal debut of five-star WR Dallas Wilson.

The spread for this game has been steadily dropping and is as low as -4.5 for Texas.

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