Florida Gators Q&A with SB Nation’s Alligator Army

We reached out to some guy named checks notes Seth Varnadore from SB Nation’s Alligator Army to learn more about the Florida Gators as the South Florida Bulls attempt to pull off the biggest upset in school history.

The Daily Stampede: What did Florida show last week against FAU that surprised you? Good and bad.

Alligator Army: On the good side of the ledger, I thought Florida both tackled and communicated much better on defense. Those were two problem areas for them in 2020. Offensively, they were able to run the ball more effectively than they have in a couple of seasons.

On the bad side, the most surprising thing from week one was the lack of a passing game. Florida was neither efficient nor explosive through the air against FAU.

The Daily Stampede: UF has their own quarterback competition, is there a leader in the clubhouse through one game?

Alligator Army: Emory is gonna be the guy…for now. He has a big leg up in playbook knowledge and prior experience. I think he just had some growing pains in week one, but if those linger Anthony Richardson has some freaky traits that you just can’t teach.

The Daily Stampede: Bigger mismatch: USF offensive line vs UF defensive line OR Florida offensive line vs USF defensive line?

Alligator Army: I think Florida will have one of the better defensive lines in the SEC this season. Edge player Brenton Cox was a former five star recruit and Bay Made Zach Carter is going to make himself a lot of money this season. Florida hasn’t had a ton of consistency on the offensive line the past few seasons. The Gators will have the biggest advantage in the trenches when they are on defense.

The Daily Stampede: Humor me: What does USF have to do to win?

Alligator Army: Win three of these four : Explosive plays, turnovers, Average starting field position, or third down conversions.

The Daily Stampede: Is the 29-point spread too low?

Alligator Army: It’s hard to say. Florida was never threatened last week but failed to cover 23.5. They have Alabama coming to town next week, so I don’t think they’re looking to show too much. If they have a comfortable lead late in then second half, I’d imagine they put the backups in and ride out. The backdoor cover is going to be in play.

Thanks again to Seth for answering these questions for us. He seems like a good guy, hope he amounts to something one day.