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The Florida Gators are coming off a disappointing 5-7 season and enter 2024 with one of the hardest schedules in all of college football. Coach Billy Napier has been mentioned as being on the hot seat as he enters his third year in Florida.
The Gators enter 2024 with massive +2000 odds of making the college football playoff, which implies a 4.8% chance of it happening. Entering 2024, Napier and Florida are embracing the difficult schedule. Napier said, via SI:
“It’s a healthy thing. I think it’s good for our team in terms of like, everybody’s talking about that part of the year. Maybe it causes them to do a little bit extra. Maybe it causes him to be a little more focused, a little more detailed. You’re planning and preparing and working hard to prepare for a great challenge.
"Our ability to do that week in and week out, this team has been really close, and we have some experience in that locker room. We’re not just talking about all these teams that were ranked or are ranked. We’ve been on the grass with them before. And I think we’ve got an understanding on where the gap is at and what we need to do to make up that gap."
Ahead of the 2024 season, here are three SEC games that could give Billy Napier and Florida a difficult time.
3 SEC games that could give Billy Napier's Florida a hard time
#1. Georgia, Nov. 2
The hardest game on the Florida Gators' schedule is on Nov. 2 when Florida plays the Georgia Bulldogs. Georgia enters the season as the pre-season favorite to win the national championship.
The betting odds for that game haven't been released, but it is fair to assume that Florida will be a double-digit underdog, and could even push 20+ points, given that Tennessee is 16.5 and the Vols are sizeable favorites over Florida.
#2. Tennessee, Oct. 12
Billy Napier and Florida will go on the road to play their rivals in the Tennessee Volunteers on Oct. 12.
This could be a bit of a trap game for Tennessee given that it plays Alabama the following week, but this is still a very tough game.
The Gators are +10-point underdogs against the Volunteers, as being on the road makes it that much harder.
#3. Ole Miss, Nov. 23
Ole Miss is a real national title contender entering 2024, and Florida has to face it in 2024. Luckily for the Gators, this game is at home, which does help them but is still a very tough game.
Despite being at home, the Gators are 6.5-point underdogs to Ole Miss in their second-to-last game of the season.
