Former Florida football coach Urban Meyer picks Gators to make College Football Playoff

Urban Meyer thinks Florida football will make the College Football Playoff.

Urban Meyer is very high on Florida football this year.

The former Gators head coach thinks it could be a special year for Dan Mullen‘s team, as he is picking them to make the College Football Playoff. Not since Meyer last coached in Gainesville over a decade ago have the Gators been a major threat to win a national championship. That could all change in the third year of the Mullen era.

I think Florida is going to have a heck of a year,” said Meyer. “If they stay healthy, I’m picking them to be a Playoff team.”

https://twitter.com/CFBONFOX/status/1268633118715645952

That’s quite the compliment for the former Florida coach, but he’s not alone in his praise of the 2020 Gators. Mullen said on The Pat McAfee Show earlier this week he expects his team to go undefeated this fall. This should come as no surprise, as Mullen should think his team will go undefeated. Florida is a top-eight team in the country capable of winning the playoff.

Urban Meyer picks the Florida Gators to reach the College Football Playoff.

If the Gators were to make the playoff, it would be uncharted territory for the program. Though they have never made it to the postseason tournament since its inception in 2014, Florida is arguably the team most likely to make their first playoff appearance in the country this year. The Gators have the talent to pull it off, but the question is if they have the fortitude to get there.

Florida’s three toughest regular-season games this year are at the Tennessee Volunteers, home vs. the LSU Tigers and vs. the Georgia Bulldogs in Jacksonville. Gator fans could say they’re going undefeated because Tennessee isn’t great yet, LSU lost a ton of talent to the NFL and Georgia has a graduate transfer at quarterback. However, they have to win two of these three games.

The neutral-site affair vs. Georgia in Jacksonville on Halloween will be the Gators’ toughest game. Whoever wins that game will likely go to Atlanta as the SEC East division champion and play for a College Football Playoff spot. If the Gators win this game, they can theoretically afford to drop a road game to Tennessee or a home date to LSU if they win out.

As for who Florida would face out of the SEC West in a theoretical conference title bout matchup, we’re looking at teams like the Alabama Crimson Tide or LSU in a rematch. Don’t rule out the Auburn Tigers or the Texas A&M Aggies getting to Atlanta as SEC West dark horses either. As for the SEC East, that will be decided in Jacksonville as it has been for the last several years.

With arguably the best quarterback in the SEC in redshirt senior Kyle Trask, Mullen will have his best opportunity to reach the playoff since his best year at Mississippi State back in 2014. But for any of this to happen, Florida needs to win its division and that requires beating Georgia in Jacksonville, something the Gators haven’t done since 2016.

Meyer picking Florida to make the playoff is not as bold of a statement as one would think.

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