The Florida Gators are the college football betting equivalent of the New York Jets. Just a little over a week before the Gators open their season against the Michigan Wolverines, Florida head coach Jim McElwain is pulling a Todd Bowles. “You’re going to see a bunch of them in there playing,” McElwain said per CBS Sports. “The three guys [Malik Zaire, Feleipe Franks, and Luke Del Rio] have done a really good job. Not naming a starter right now.”
- Date: Saturday, September 2nd
- Time: 3:35 PM
- Venue: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
Sportsbook NCAA Football Lines:
Michigan -4 (-110) 45 (-110) -185
Florida +4 (-110) 45 (-110) +160
University of Florida? More like Florida High
Former Notre Dame Fighting Irish signal-caller Zaire actually waited until the SEC changed its bylaws so that he could Gators as a graduate transfer eligible for 2017. That didn’t mean he was guaranteed the starting job, though. “Zaire has had some issues with communication in the passing game,” writes Thomas Goldkamp of GatorBait.Net. “Redshirt freshman Feleipe Franks has a lot of upside but still isn’t getting the ball out as quickly as the coaches would like. Meanwhile, redshirt junior Luke Del Rio is healthy again and has the best knowledge of the playbook by far, but he is very limited physically.” Elsewhere, the Gators have lost seven players – including arguably their best offensive weapon, Antonio Callaway – to suspensions alone (for misusing university money), and two more were cited earlier in the week for possession of marijuana; namely, freshmen James Robinson and Ventrell Miller. Robinson in particular was expected to see some action in lieu of Callaway, but his status against Michigan is now unclear. This is not his first bout of reefer madness, either.
University of Florida? More like Animal House, House, House, nobody ever went to class. Then they did the end like American Graffiti, where you found out what happened to everyone.
Speight of hand and twist of fate
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh has not officially named a starting quarterback for the Wolverines’ college football betting season opener, but all signs seem to point to Wilton Speight. The junior is the deepest of deep passers among Big Ten returning QBs.
No returning Big 10 QB threw the deep pass better than Wilton Speight last season.
Can he keep that up this season? pic.twitter.com/Yb7xKBxXHU
— PFF College Football (@PFF_College) August 16, 2017
Speight is also leaner and meaner this season, having shed 23 pounds during the summer. “I just got really strict with my diet,” he said via MLive.com. “Only really ate animals and things that grow in the ground. Stayed away from processed foods and stuff like that. I feel a lot quicker coming from under center.” another edge Speight has over his two competitors – fifth-year senior John O’Korn and redshirt freshman Brandon Peters – is that he started 12 of Michigan’s 13 games in 2016, finishing with 2,538 passing yards and 18 touchdowns. Still, Speight doesn’t take his job for granted. “I feel a little bit more comfortable. But at the same time, I don’t,” he said. “That’s coach Harbaugh’s mission – to make sure we feel uncomfortable at all times.” Pretty sure he didn’t mean that they way it came out. All things considered, it’s easy to see why Michigan has the college football betting over Florida.