Florida-Campbell Breakdown & Prediction

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• Getting to Know: Davin Davidson
• Recruit Reaction: The atmosphere was insane!
• Florida Football Preseason Superlatives
• Former Florida Football Player Roundtable I
• Post-Fall Camp Ranking of Florida position-by-position

Inside the Gators staffers Jackson Colding, Andres Rodriguez, and Mark Wheeler take a closer look at Saturday’s match-up between Florida and Campbell, including thoughts on what would be considered a successful weekend, backups we would like to see in action, players to watch, as well as a score prediction.

What would be considered a successful Saturday for Florida?

Colding: With a win being the bare minimum for success against Campbell, for Saturday to be viewed as a success, there will need to be extended quality plays for most of the backups. By the time the second half comes, most of the players wearing orange should be backups. An important part of any team is to have depth, and Florida will not have another chance to see how deep their roster is without the chance of substantial consequences. Also, success for Florida will be to play a clean game with no procedural issues.

Rodriguez: A successful Saturday for Florida would be the defense showing out. We all saw what this offense can do under Buster Faulkner, and I expect them to do worse things to Campbell. However, Brad White’s defense did not live up to the expectations that were put on them, letting FAU score 21 and have 396 yards of offense. If the Gators want to make a statement and sneak into the AP Top 25, then the defense can not let that happen again. Brad White made his seat go from ice cold to lukewarm in one game; now he has to show out and prove why Jon Sumrall recruited him.

Wheeler: Normally the go-to line here is to say that a successful weekend simply begins and ends with a win. That isn’t really the case when you enter a game as nearly a 50-point favorite. Plus, just for the sake of the sanity of the Gator Nation, as well as to help build up the confidence of the players, the defense needs to show improvement in the box score. Something around 175-200 total yards and 7-10 points yielded would be a good start.

Who are a couple of backups you want to see in action and why?

Colding: The backups I want to see both play at the line of scrimmage. First, I want to see sophomore offensive lineman TJ Dice Jr. Offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner said Dice Jr. was awesome against FAU, and he’s been trending in a positive direction. Freshman JACK KJ Ford is another backup I want to see extended snaps from. His snaps will be limited this year behind sophomore Jayden Woods, and the staff has said Ford has played well throughout the offseason.

Rodriguez: When the game gets out of hand, there are two backups I want to see in action: Trammell Jones Jr. and Duke Clark. After Aaron Philo exploded in his opener with 275 passing yards and four total touchdowns, Jones Jr. came in and went 4/5 with 68 yards and a touchdown. I expect Jones Jr. to get more reps in against Campbell, and he must be hungry to prove to Sumrall and the coaching staff what he can do. For Clark, he made the most of the opportunity against FAU after Evan Pryor went down, rushing 65 yards with a touchdown. If Pryor won’t be fit for the Campbell game, Clark will show out, as I don’t expect Jadan Baugh to be in the game past halftime.

Wheeler: For as damn good as Florida’s offense looked in the opener, the lone black mark was center Harrison Moore. This is a week after Brent Key, his former head coach at Georgia Tech, made a pretty lengthy remark on how iffy his center position (Moore started nine games) was the year before. Whether he has or hasn’t figured it out, we need to see more of what Jason Zamdanela is capable of doing. Though Dijon Johnson is currently listed as a backup, that is mostly due to not being healthy enough to compete for a starting spot. In the opener, out of the top four cornerbacks, he was the one who looked best. If he continues to shine, don’t be surprised to see him take Cormani McClain‘s starting spot.

Will Florida’s defense show improvement this week?

Colding: Florida’s defense will show improvement this weekend. Combining an overmatched opponent and coach Jon Sumrall calling out the defense after the win against Florida Atlantic, this will give the defense a spark to play less of a bend-don’t-break game. The defense will need to go from relying on takeaways to get out of some drives to being a dominant force on Saturday. Sumrall said the defense needed to improve, and he has given no reason not to trust it will happen.

Rodriguez: After their performance last week, the last person anybody in Gainesville wanted to be is a defensive player. After Sumrall’s media availability, everyone knew the defense was in for it. It’s up to them to improve, and for their own sake, improvement better come. On defense, they faced a tricky FAU offense that just passes the ball everywhere, but they will be hungry to make a statement, especially ahead of the Auburn game.

Wheeler: The thing about openers is that nothing is ever as good or bad as it seems. The offense likely won’t score on every possession this weekend, and the defense likely won’t be as generous. Also, keep in mind that it was a perfect defensive storm last week. FAU plays fast and throws a lot by design, and UF averaged over nine yards per play while scoring at ease – that, of course, meant the defense stayed on the field longer than they needed to be. I don’t know that it is anywhere near being a dominant group, or even potentially one, but I do think from a statistical standpoint we’ll see them do better on Saturday.

Prediction

Colding: Florida is clearly the more talented team, and Campbell will be very overmatched in this game. While junior quarterback Aaron Philo and the offense were rolling last weekend, Florida will look to give its backups extended playing time. The offense will not score as much as a result, but the defense will show improvement heading into conference play. 63-3 Florida

Rodriguez: If the defense flips the switch and plays to the level the nation expects them to play, then Florida should have no issue sweeping past Campbell. The Camels had a nice 2-0 start to the season, but the Gators will march through. If they put up 66 on FAU, they can put up 70+. 73-7 Florida

Wheeler: While Campbell may not have faced the Gators before, last week they did defeat a former Gator when the Fighting Camels beat Kerwin Bell‘s Western Carolina squad 28-19. Who knows what went on, what they gained or lost in the offseason Transfer Portal, but Bell normally has a pretty stout offense. Yes, UF has much better players/athletes, but I get a feeling this might not be the runaway game that a 50-point spread would indicate. 52-10 Florida.

Season-to-date Predictions

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