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Florida football 2020: 5 bold predictions – Can Gators win the SEC behind Kyle Trask?

By Nick Villano

Kyle Trask, Dan Mullen, Florida Gators. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
Kyle Trask, Dan Mullen, Florida Gators. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /
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Brandon Powell #4 of the Florida Gators (Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images) /

2. Florida bold predictions: Florida suffers the dreaded trap game loss

There are two games that feel like the areas where Florida has struggled in seasons before. They lost to an unranked Missouri in 2018. They lost to an unranked Arkansas in 2016. A loss to Florida State before going into a game against Alabama ruined the 2015 season.

Put together the doldrums of the SEC schedule with tough games to look ahead at or behind at all times. One loss can become three very quickly. Falling to a lesser team can happen when the top team in the country is coming next week. A surprise loss can also happen when a team gets overconfident after a big win. We feel like this will happen to the Gators this season.

The game we’re really circling on the calendar is Ole Miss on Oct. 17. The LSU win was just one week earlier. They were going on the road to face a Rebels team that’s looking for their first major win under new head coach Lane Kiffin. He has a strange reputation in college football, especially in the SEC, but this is the fresh start he needed after reviving his career at Florida Atlantic University.

John Rhys Plumlee is just a different kind of dual-threat quarterback than any other player in the conference. In nine games, he led the SEC with 113.7 yards per game, edging out Hornung Award winner, Kentucky’s Lynn Bowden Jr. by less than a yard. With Florida loving life after a big win, their focus may be off on Monday and Tuesday. This could really impact them on Saturday.

It’s going to take some time to get the right message to the defense, and Kiffin is going to circle this game on his calendar too. With the combination of different looks on offense and playing right after a big win, this could lead to a loss.

The other game that might be harder than we expect is Missouri. We think the Rebels’ game is the more likely loss, but with Missouri coming in the midst of a very boring stretch for Florida, this could be a point where they lose focus.

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