Hail Florida Hail
Fansided

Saturday is Florida Football's last real chance to salvage anything from 2024

Florida faces LSU at 3:30 on Saturday

By Benjamin Henderson

Nov 2, 2024; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier and quarterback DJ Lagway (2) before a game against the Georgia Bulldogs at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Melina Myers-Imagn Images
Nov 2, 2024; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier and quarterback DJ Lagway (2) before a game against the Georgia Bulldogs at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Melina Myers-Imagn Images / Melina Myers-Imagn Images
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With three games to go in the 2024 regular season for Florida Football, the Gators are sitting at 4-5 on the season. Even if the Gators somehow win out, they will fall short of the eight-game mark we had set prior to the season as the bare minimum.

As bad as the year has been, there is still value in making a bowl game to try and give the program any kind of momentum heading into the offseason. In order to pull that off, this Saturday against LSU represents the last stand the Gators get to make in 2024.

Florida Football: Tiger King

Every year in recent history, it seems that LSU is always within reach but always slips away in the end. Even last year, as Jayden Daniels ran wild over Florida, the Gators still managed a short lived second-half lead.

It's with that backdrop and the hope that DJ Lagway somehow plays on Saturday that Florida is only a four-point underdog, and ESPN's FPI metric gives Florida better than 40% to outright win in The Swamp.

If Florida wants to be able to head into the offseason with any kind of positive vibes and momentum, it needs to find a way to get past LSU.

With a win, Florida would just need to beat FSU to get to 6-6 and go to a bowl. Don't get it twisted that 6-6 is the standard or anything worth celebrating; it's not.

But at 6-6, Florida would get the benefit of extra bowl practices, which would give Lagway the chance to shine in a lower-tier bowl. If we can put up big numbers in that game, Florida can at least head into "talking season" without the barrage of negative headlines that are bound to happen if the alternative happens on Saturday.

A loss to LSU would mean Florida has to beat an Ole Miss squad coming off a bye week with the playoffs squarely in sight to even set up a matchup with FSU to make a bowl.

The odds of that are low, and even if the Gators beat the Seminoles to close out the season, back-to-back losing seasons are going to make "talking season" the most dismal of talking seasons in recent memory for Gator fans.

2024 is already a lost cause, and the frustration is compounded by the fact that Scott Stricklin doesn't seem to think it's a lost cause. But if there is anything to remember from this season other than permanent sadness, Saturday is the last chance to salvage that.

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