The Opening Kickoff: Gators at No. 16 Florida State

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida-Florida State game used to be must-watch TV. It used to be great theatre, viewers never certain of what they might see. The Gators-Seminoles rivalry used to be full of trash talk and future NFL stars and pregame drama.

The game used to be fun, fun, fun.

"You know, when I was growing up, Florida and Florida State were dominating college football,'' first-year Gators coach Billy Napier said this week. "It was Steve Spurrier, and it was Bobby Bowden,and it's pretty awesome to be a part of this game."

THREE STORYLINES

The Gators and Seminoles square off on a Friday night for the first time in the series. They met on a Friday afternoon in 1979.The matchup at Doak Campbell Stadium marks Florida's first visit to Tallahassee since 2018. The 2020 game was canceled due to the Covid-impacted schedule. This is the first meeting in the rivalry between first-year Gators coach Billy Napier and FSU's Mike Norvell, in his third season. A lot of newness surrounds this year's game.
Florida has ruled out five of its top receivers because of various injuries: Justin Shorter, Xzavier Henderson, Marcus Burke, Ja'Quavion Fraziars andThai Chiaokhiao-Bowman. In addition, Ricky Pearsall is listed as questionable. The good news is that the Gators are their best when they establish the run game and quarterback Anthony Richardson is part of the ground attack. FSU ranks fourth in the country in pass defense (155.4 yards per game) and 52nd against the run (138 ypg).
The Seminoles are hot with four consecutive wins. They are at home and will have a sellout crowd urging them to snap a three-game losing streak to the Gators. In other words, Florida has a formidable challenge under the Friday Night Lights. But rivalry games are usually full of surprises and expect a few in this one. The Anthony Richardson-Jordan Travis quarterback matchup will play a huge rolethis one.

THREE PLAYERS TO WATCH

Anthony Richardson and Jordan Travis are both dynamic athletes at different stages of their careers. A fifth-year player, Travis has taken lumps in his career but has continued to improve and blossomed this season. He is completing more than 65 percent of his passes for 2,526 yards, 21 touchdowns and four interceptions. He has added five rushing scores. Meanwhile, a third-year sophom*ore in his first season as Florida's full-time starter, Richardson is completing 55.7 percent of his passes for 2,351 yards, 14 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Richardson has rushed for 613 yards and nine scores. Travis has an advantage in experience, but Richardson is right there in talent. Which one avoids the costly mistake?
Gators receiver Daejon Reynolds went from bench-warmer to go-to target in last week's loss to Vanderbilt, catching eight passes for 165 yards and two scores. He had not caught a pass in five consecutive games before the trip to Vanderbilt. Considering Florida's depleted situation at receiver, Reynolds will be a primary target once again against the Seminoles.
In light of senior linebacker Ventrell Miller's expected absence in the first half (see notes file), UF head coach Billy Napier said the Gators are confident young players Shemar James, Derek Wingo and Scooby Williams can pick up the slack without Miller, the heartbeat of the defense. James has been the most productive of that trio, sixth on the team with 38 tackles.

FIVE DIGITS

4 –Years since Florida's last game in Tallahassee, the longest stretch since the first six games of the series (1958-63) were played in Gainesville.
3 –FBS players with at least 2,300 yards passing and 600 yards rushing this season. Gators quarterback Anthony Richardson is one of them.
27 –Rushing touchdowns for the Gators this season, which ranks fifth in school history for a single season. The 2008 team (42) owns the all-time school record.
16 –Scoring drives to open a half for Florida State this season. The Seminoles are second in the country with a 68.2 percent-touchdown rate on drives to open a half.
7 –Turnovers forced by the Gators in their last 10 quarters, which totals 148 offensive plays by the opposition.

INJURY REPORT

GATORS — OUT: WR Ja'Quavion Fraziars (shoulder), WR Xzavier Henderson (lower body), CB Devin Moore (shoulder, out for season), LS Marco Ortiz (upper body), WR Justin Shorter (lower body), WR Thai Chiaokhiao-Bowman (upper body), WR Marcus Burke (upper body).QUESTIONABLE —TE Keon Zipperer (lower body), WR Ricky Pearsall (upper body). FLORIDA STATE— OUT:WR Darion Williamson (undisclosed), WR Winston Wright Jr. (leg), OL Kayden Lyles (undisclosed), LB Stephen Dix Jr. (shoulder, out for season), OL Bless Harris (arm, out for season).QUESTIONABLE:OL Thomas Shrader(undisclosed), TE Jackson West (undisclosed), OL Julian Armella(undisclosed), WR Keyshawn Helton (undisclosed).

NOTES FILE

This is the 66th all-time meeting between the Gators and Seminoles, and the 29thin Tallahassee.
Florida leads the series 37-26-2 and has a three-game win streak against the Seminoles.
Only two of the last 14 meetings between the schools have been decided by single digits: UF's 24-21 win in 2021 and FSU's 24-19 victory in 2014.
The Gators will be without five receivers due to injury (see injury report), with seldom-used wideouts Jordan Pouncey, Ja'Markis Weston and Kahleil Jackson listed as second-team on the depth chart.
Florida senior linebacker Ventrell Miller has to sit out the first half because of his ejection for targeting in last week's loss at Vanderbilt.
Senior linebacker Amari Burney has a team-leading four sacks for the Gators, who have 19 as a team; FSU enters with 33 sacks on the season.
Florida State's four-game win streak is its longest since 2017, when the Seminoles won their final four games of the season.
Seminoles quarterback Jordan Travis has 1,601 career rushing yards, a school record for a quarterback, surpassing Charlie Ward (899 from 1989-93).
Gators running back Trevor Etienne needs 24 yards to reach 600 on the season. If he does, the trio of Etienne, quarterback Anthony Richardson and running back Montrell Johnson Jr. will be just the third in school history to each rush for 600 yards or more in the same season.
FSU leading receiver Johnny Wilson was a teammate of Gators receiver Ricky Pearsall at Arizona State for the past two seasons.

THEY SAIDIT

"I don't blame the fans and the supporters for the way they feel because the University of Florida once was a great program football-wise, even academically. So they're holding us to a higher standard, so we've got to hold ourselves to that standard as well. With Coach Napier, I feel like everything will get back on course." -- Gators quarterback Anthony Richardson on some of criticism after Vanderbilt loss
"It is something that we take a lot of pride in, how we finish. That is one of the core things to our identity that we want to be remembered by." -- FSU coach Mike Norvell on his 19-5 career record in November games
"Everybody will be watching us. That'll be fun." -- Gators cornerback Jason Marshall Jr. on the Florida-Florida State game being played on a Friday night
"You've got to get consumed with improvement, efficiency, refining every part of the systems that you run, what you do with your time. We've been through this before,right? This is a process. You don't just flip a light switch and the house is built. It istrulyone day at a time, and it's one person at a time. I've got a ton of confidence in what we do." -- Gators head coach Billy Napier on first-year ups and downs
"You don't want to lose against the 'Noles. I hate them now, just being around. I never grew up hating them. I didn't even know who they were until I came here. Now you hate them because just being a Florida Gator you don't want to lose to them, so we're coming in hot this week." -- Gators punter and Australia native Jeremy Crawshaw on the Florida-FSU rivalry

THEY WROTEIT

Gators thin at receiver heading into Florida State matchup writes Kevin Brockway of the Gainesville Sun.
Florida's rebuild in early stages compared to Florida State's writes Gene Frenette of the Florida Times-Union.
FSU's Black Friday game against Gators a grand stage for a grand game writes Matt Murschel and Edgar Thompson of the Orlando Sentinel.
Gators' country-strong O'Cyrus Torrence is a player NFL teams will love, coaches say via G. Allan Taylor of The Athletic.
Carter Karels of the Tallahassee Democrat offers reasons to be thankful for the 2022 Florida State football team.

BOTTOM LINE

The Gators are a 9.5-point underdog and have only a 23.1 percent chance to beat the Seminoles according to the ESPN Matchup Predictor. Vegas has FSU around a 10.5-point favorite, so not many see the Gators pulling this one out after their stunning loss at Vanderbilt last week. It's hard to argue against that logic with the Seminoles on a roll and outscoring opponents 173-39 in the last four games. Still, as the great Al Michaels likes to say about the endless pregame chatter: "nobody knows anything." We saw some of that last week when the Gators fell to the Commodores and South Carolina, which lost at Florida Field the previous week, destroyed Tennessee. All I'm saying is I'm not writing the Gators off in this one. I think they have a chance and won't be surprised if they surprise us despite being without the bulk of their receivers corps.

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The Opening Kickoff: Gators at No. 16 Florida State - Florida Gators (2024)