CBS Sports and ESPN Bowl Predictions: Where Does Florida Land?
This week, CBS Sports and ESPN released their first bowl game projections for the 2025 college football season. Good news for all Gator fans, Florida did make both lists, but the bowl game might not be what most anticipate coming into a 2025 season that holds so much optimism, just two weeks out from the first kick against LIU.
Similarly, both sites have the Gators failing to qualify for the College Football Playoff. Instead, CBS writer Brad Crawford has Florida slated to face North Carolina in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl on Dec. 27 in Jacksonville.
On the other hand, ESPN writers Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach had the Gators playing in the Jan. 2 bowl games. Bonagura predicts Florida to face Kansas in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, while Schlabach has the Gators taking on Duke in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.
Florida had its first winning season since 2019, going 8-5 in 2024. It is a big year for Florida, which will enter this season ranked No.15 in the AP Poll and No. 17 in the coaches poll. Head coach Billy Napier accepts the expectations and warns his team not to buy into the preseason “rat poison.”
“These are fun to cover, but ultimately the games will be played this fall, and that’ll decide who ends the year ranked what,” Napier said on Aug. 11. “We have work to do to get ready for those opportunities, so 20 days until we spot the ball.”
“I think we’re focused on the work at hand. But hey, good to be ranked in the preseason. But we all know those are projections, and we’re gonna have to go perform to earn those.”
Furthermore, the CFP projections from both sites all have No.1 Texas, No.5 Georgia, No.9 LSU, and No.10 Miami in them.
https://twitter.com/CBSSportsCFB/status/1956040252340011248
Four teams that the Gators are all set to take on this season, starting with a September two-game road trip against LSU on Sept. 13 and Miami on Sept. 20. They will open October by welcoming Texas to the Swamp on Oct. 4 and start November in Jacksonville for the annual border clash against Georgia on Nov. 1.
Despite another year with a gauntlet of a schedule, Napier believes that this team is more than capable of being a playoff team; they just have to go out there and prove it to the world.
“We absolutely have aspirations to be a playoff team. That’s the intention of coming here, is to win championships,” Napier said. “Now, what do we know about that? It’s about the work we do. It’s about today. Okay. It’s not about yesterday or tomorrow. It’s about today. A good today leads to a good week, leads to a good month, leads to a good season, and you look up and count them up at the end of the year.”
No.15 Florida will get its season underway on Aug. 30 against LIU at 7pm.
Category: College Football, Feature Sports News, Gator Sports, Gators Football, NCAA, SEC
