Vanderbilt Commodores at Florida Gators, 12:21 p.m. ET, SEC Netwrok
It's gotten to the point that I don't even know what to expect out of Florida anymore. Part of that is because the entire SEC East is a mess, and it's hard to know what to expect out of any team on any given week. And part of that is because Florida is going through the kind of transition that was always bound to be painful; the only question was how painful it would be.
Vanderbilt, meanwhile, is 1-4 over its last five games. I only mention this because there's a strand of thought out there that the Commodores are playing better now than they were earlier this year -- and I agree. But they're coming off a brutal stretch that included trips to Alabama and South Carolina and games against Georgia and Arkansas -- all sandwiched around a game against the one winnable match in the set (Army). With four wins so far, James Franklin has a decent chance of getting to a bowl during his first season in Nashville.
But even having gotten close to both Georgia and Arkansas, and even with what's shaping up as the worst Florida season since Steve Spurrier was hired -- well, Florida has to defeat Vanderbilt, right? I mean, we're talking blue-moon-level rarity for the Commodores to pull off this upset.
Statistically, at least, Florida has a marginally better offense and a slightly better defense. And it's not like Florida's been playing a bakery full of cupcakes during its four-game losing streak. The Gators played Alabama, at LSU, at Auburn and against Georgia in the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.
And the game is in the Swamp. That might not mean as much as it once did, but it still counts for something. Florida wins -- but it won't be as easy as they thought when the schedule came out.
Florida 23, Vanderbilt 20