Florida Gators Face Absurd 2024 Schedule

The Gauntlet

When evaluating if a team is worthy of making the college football playoff at the end of the season, many people look at the strength of the schedule to determine a tiebreaker if two teams are in consideration with the same record. Whoever had to face the more difficult opponents will get the nod.

After this season, no one will be questioning Florida if there is a debate about them getting into the expanded playoff. Many are calling their 2024 schedule the most difficult of all time, and when you take a look at it, it isn't hard to see why.

They will start by taking on in-state rival Miami at home, before having what will easily be their least-difficult opponent in Samford in Week 2. After that, it's brutal. Texas A&M, Mississippi State, UCF, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Texas, LSU, Ole Miss, and Florida State round everything out.

Seven or eight of those teams will likely be ranked in the preseason poll, and essentially, the Gators will be facing off against some of the best teams in college football nearly every week.

Improved Roster

The good news for the Gators is that their team should be improved from the 2023 group.

QB Graham Mertz finally looks like the signal-caller that Wisconsin thought they were getting, which is a star that can make all the throws. WR Elijhah Badger should provide big plays and be the No. 1 guy in this offense. RB Montrell Johnson can certainly produce numbers if he can actually get some room to run. The biggest issue for Florida in recent years on offense has been the line, with injury issues and personnel fits have been tumultuous. From an experience standpoint, this should be their best offensive line in years, however.

If this team wants to be competitive this season with this schedule, their run defense will be the key. It was the worst run defense the team has seen in decades, allowing an insane 4.84 yards per carry. LSU and Kentucky racked up over 300 yards on the ground against them, and they allowed over 150 yards in almost every game.

Futures

The win total right now for Florida is sitting at 5.5, so despite the amount of talent on this roster, they are projected a borderline bowl team with this schedule. They are 250/1 to win the championship, and 20/1 to make the CFP. If you want to bet them just to win the SEC, you can get a 120/1 payout right now.

I actually think these are someone decent plays, especially their win total. I think they can get to six wins even with this schedule, as a lot of these games are 50/50 in my opinion. Only two games are almost surefire losses, and those are against Georgia and at Texas. Samford is the only easy win, however, so we will need some luck.