Dan Mullen has high hopes for Florida football in his second year as head coach. Will the Gators take that next step and contend for the SEC title?
If you’re the Florida Gators, you have to feel good about the future. In fact, it’s brighter now than it ever was with Jim McElwain at the helm, and that’s because Dan Mullen is just different.
The second-year head coach is coming off a 10-3 season and a blowout win over Michigan in the Peach Bowl to end the Gators’ drought against the Wolverines. That victory really opened people’s eyes to the progress in Gainesville and it set up some lofty expectations for the 2019 season.
Mullen isn’t afraid of those high hopes, though. He’s been coaching for long enough to know that the work still has to go into a season no matter how high the expectations. He will tell his guys not to buy into the headlines and that’s helped through one year. Mullen is more about substance than flash, and that translates to his 79-49 career record — 69-46 at Mississippi State.
Although it faces a tough schedule in 2019, Florida doesn’t have to see Alabama, which could bode well, especially in the SEC East race. If they can just take down Georgia and handle the games they’re supposed to, the Gators could be seeing the Tide in the conference title game.
A lot will have to go right for that to happen, though. How will the Gators’ 2019 season play out?