Even though they lost by two touchdowns at LSU, Florida is still alive to win the SEC East over Georgia but what about the College Football Playoff?
When the No. 7 Florida Gators met the No. 5 LSU Tigers at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge on a Louisiana Saturday night, someone’s dream of a perfect season was going to die. The Gators thought they had caught the Bayou Bengals by the toes, but 21 unanswered points from midway through the third quarter ended up keeping LSU perfect. The Tigers won 42-28 over Florida.
Few outside of Gainesville, Florida thought the 13-point underdog Gators were going to win this game. Though they were 6-0 entering Saturday night, LSU was undoubtedly the best team the Gators had faced up to that point in the season. Beating the Auburn Tigers in The Swamp was one thing, but knocking off the Bayou Bengals in Death Valley after dusk is another beast.
So a semi-shocking road upset didn’t happen for the Gators, but you know what? It isn’t the end of the world for Dan Mullen‘s team. Even the best teams in college football drop a game in conference play from time to time. What if I told you Florida not only had plenty to play for but could still accomplish all of its wildest dreams this year, even after succumbing to defeat in LSU?
It’s simple really. Just win out and you’ll win the fourth national championship in school history. Florida has five more regular-season games left on the slate and four are conference games. Their toughest game remaining is easily the Georgia Bulldogs down in Jacksonville in three weeks. But let’s keep in mind one very important thing for Gator Nation: Georgia also lost on Saturday!
Yes, the Dawgs didn’t get it done at home versus the South Carolina Gamecocks, embarrassingly falling in double overtime 20-17. Georgia may have a quality win on the year at home versus the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, but that loss to South Carolina will likely come back to haunt the Dawgs this season.
At this time, neither Florida or Georgia is in first place in the SEC East. That would be the 5-1 Missouri Tigers, who are fresh off their home victory over the underwhelming Ole Miss Rebels. While all three SEC East rivals still have to play each other, let’s not forget one huge caveat about Mizzou football: the Tigers are facing a postseason ban in 2019.
Unless the NCAA hears out Mizzou’s appeal, which the university filed back in March, the Tigers won’t be eligible to play in the postseason due to academic violations. So even if Mizzou does somehow end up with the best record in the division, the Tigers may not even be eligible to go to Atlanta to play for an SEC Championship, much less go to a meaningful bowl game.
Odds are that punishment might get waived in a matter of weeks for Mizzou, so look for them to be back in the SEC East hunt to make the race all the more compelling. But just like Florida and Georgia, the Tigers do have a loss on their résumé. However, their loss is most egregious in the eyes of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee: on the road to the Wyoming Cowboys.
So Florida has games remaining against South Carolina, Georgia, the Vanderbilt Commodores and Missouri left in the SEC slate, as well as the annual Sunshine Showdown against what looks to be a bad Florida State Seminoles team under Willie Taggart. Florida stands a great chance of getting to 11-1 (7-1) if the Gators get past Georgia in Jacksonville and Mizzou in Columbia.
With that record, the Gators’ only loss would be on the road to another serious Playoff hopeful in LSU. A rematch between cross-divisional rivals could be in play if Florida wins out and LSU ends up winning the SEC West over teams like Auburn and the Alabama Crimson Tide.
So Florida still has a control-your-own-destiny working for it to reach the College Football Playoff for the first time in school history. That being said, a regular-season loss to LSU essentially means that Florida has to get to the SEC Championship and win it if the Gators want to reach the Playoff.
The Gators literally can’t make the Playoff as a one-loss at-large team because they still haven’t played Georgia, Missouri or South Carolina in conference play. If the Gators beat all three plus Vanderbilt, they will represent the SEC East in Atlanta. That’s easy enough to understand, right?
To make it even more simple, whichever team wins down in Jacksonville between Florida and Georgia is very likely of representing the SEC East in the conference championship this year. Mizzou still has something to say about it, if eligible. Also, it’s too farfetched to think any of the other four East schools have any mathematical possibilities of getting to Atlanta this year.
Florida might have lost in Death Valley, but visiting teams have done it often enough for that nickname to stick on the Baton Rouge football stadium. The Gators have suffered defeat, but their season is far from over. We’ll have a better feel of that after they meet the Dawgs down in Jacksonville on Nov. 2 in three weeks but based on how Georgia looked vs. South Carolina, the Gators look like the best team in the East.
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