Florida football: Ole Miss could be trickier test than expected in opener

Florida football begins season vs upstart Ole Miss squad and the Gators have their sights set on the SEC title and hopeful playoff push.

Week 4 will present the first opportunity of the season for the SEC to show how dominant it is and the conference has a number of teams that are ready to make a push for the College Football Playoff.

One of those teams that is hoping to make a playoff run is Florida. The Gators are one of those contending teams and in year three of the Dan Mullen era, this might be his best chance to finally break through and earn that playoff spot.

This is seemingly the most vulnerable that Georgia has been since Mullen took over in 2018,  with quarterback questions and so many offensive starters missing in Athens. The rest of the SEC East does not look like they are going to be able to keep up with the Gators this season, meaning that their annual rivalry game with Georgia is going to be one of the games to watch this season in the SEC.

While all of the hype might be on the Gators for this game, Ole Miss has some headlines of its own. This will mark the debut at Ole Miss for new head coach Lane Kiffin, but he is not new to life in the SEC. He was the head coach at Tennessee for one season and then a few years later, returned to the SEC to be the offensive coordinator at the University of Alabama.

Kiffin has the recruiting ability and offensive mind to return Ole Miss to contention in the always tough SEC West, but this could be a tough first season in Oxford. the Rebels struggled mightily with their pass defense last season and I don’t know that it will be much better in 2020. However, there are playmakers on offense for the Rebels to challenge the Gators and that will be how the Rebels will try and win the game on Saturday.

Here is how you can watch Saturday’s matchup between the Gators and the Rebels:

Date: Saturday, Sept. 26th
Time: 12 p.m. ET
Location: Oxford, Miss.
Venue: Vaught-Hemingway Stadium
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN

Keys to Victory

The key for the Gators to win this game will be to challenge the suspect Rebel defense, especially through the air. Ole Miss is the heavy underdog in this game and Florida can’t let them have hope in this game so taking care of the football will be paramount because the Rebels will be playing loose and inspire behind their new coach. Florida will have a mostly new receiving corps, so Dan Mullen will be relying on quarterback Kyle Trask to make plays through the air.

On defense, the Gators will need to make sure they stop the run and prevent explosive plays, which the Rebels thrived on a year ago.

For the Rebels to win this game, the passing game will need to be much improved, no matter who lines up under center. John Rhys Plumlee was a dynamic runner for the Rebels last season, but struggled throwing the ball, which may mean Matt Coral may get more snaps than Plumlee.

Ole Miss has weapons on offense and they will have to be efficient and patient against an aggressive Florida defense that will be coming after them. Creating turnovers will be key in this game and is the big key for the Rebels to pull a big upset.

Betting Odds

Odds courtesy of the Action Network

Point Spread: Florida -12
Over/Under: 57

Prediction

I think that Ole Miss will get going at some point in the future under Kiffin, but I think that this could be a tough season for the Rebels and I don’t think that they have the talent to hang with a team like the Gators. The Florida offense is breaking in some new playmakers at the skill positions and I think the jury is still out on how good Trask actually is, but I think that this will be a victory on Saturday for the Gators as they open up the 2020 season in Oxford

Final Score: Florida 35, Ole Miss 17