Florida Football: 3 keys to victory vs. Miami in Week 0

Who has the advantage in the Week 0 game between Florida football and Miami? Here are three keys to victory for each side.

This contest has all the makings of a physical, and relatively low scoring game, this Friday night. The Hurricanes bring a fast and experienced front-seven, while the Gators bring a ball-hawking secondary to confuse and confound Miami’s talented, but young quarterback.

Who will win? Rather, what does each team have to do to win?

3. Win the turnover battle

It’s the Turnover Chain versus the, well, Florida had a white board once when Geoff Collins was in Gainesville and players signed it like it was a petition for four-ply toilet paper in the locker room bathrooms. Not only do the Gators not have a turnover prop, they’ve trolled the ‘Canes when they were leading FBS in turnovers early last season.

It might sound cliché, but the winner of the turnover battle is going to have a leg up on winning these games.

Manny Diaz has built an aggressive athletic defense in Coral Gables while Dan Mullen has built a fast ball-hawking defense in Gainesville. The Hurricanes with their trio of linebackers and transfer portal built defensive line will throw pressures to disrupt Feleipe Franks who isn’t known for his accuracy.

The Gators are going to attempt to mix coverages to confuse a young an inexperienced Jarren Williams. They had 14 interceptions a year ago and are looking for some errant throws from the redshirt freshman, and the Hurricanes who had 16 interceptions are looking for the same thing, but they want to get in the backfield and throw Franks’ timing off.

No matter how they do it, whoever wins the turnover battle will be going to the pay window at the end of the night.