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Start Time: 12:00 PM
Where: The Swamp, Gainesville, Florida.
TV: SEC Network
Radio: FAU here.
Series: Florida leads 2-0
Betting Line: FAU +31, Over/Under: 46.5
Florida Outlook: In what was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Florida Gators Jim McElwain has led this team to a 9-1 record. With the SEC East clinched if Florida wins out they will be in the playoffs. Not a bad debut for McElwain.
With Florida State in two weeks and Alabama after that, it would be easy for the Gators to look past FAU with bigger fish to fry. And even if they did it wouldn't matter.
The Gators are bigger, better, and more talented than FAU. To put it simply they are the better team.
But they were also the far superior team against Georgia Southern two years ago and the Eagles exited the swamp with an historic win.
This year's Gators team, like the one who lost to Georgia Southern, is offensively challenged but defensively strong.
After the suspension to Will Grier Florida is averaging 22 points per game in four games with Treon Harris as the signal caller. He's thrown six touchdowns and three interceptions for 1109 yards.
The offense goes through running back Kelvin Taylor. He has 736 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns.
And that's all the negative things I have to say about Florida because the defense is an absolute beast.
They rank fifth in the country in yards allowed per game (280), fourth in the country in points per game (14.5), rank third in Rushing S&P+ and 10th in Passing S&P+.
The Gators are going to be without three defensive lineman as Alex McCalister, Joey Ivie, and Jordan Sherit will miss the game with various injuries and it won't matter because they will be replaced with high school All Americans. Life's unfair.
FAU Outlook: Charlier Partridge has listed Jay Warren probably and Trey Rodriguez questionable for this week's game. If FAU misses two of their top three leading rushers their already slim margin of error will practically be nil.
The primary focus for the Owls should be to try and get better. With the two-deep filled with freshmen and sophomore they should take this visit to The Swamp as a learning experience and gear up for the season finale against Old Dominion next week.
The offense moved the ball well last week against MTSU but once again failed to convert any of their drives into points.
The defense could very well keep FAU in the second half as they have looked the part all season aside from the opener against Tulsa which has proved to be the exception rather than the norm.
Prediction: The Gators are more talented than FAU but that 31 point spread is too high. Unless the defense is forcing turnovers and converting them into defensive touchdowns - which they could very well do - I find it hard to believe the Gators are going to score 35 or more points.
FAU will show a lot of grit early on but will fail to get anything going offensively and lose 31-10 as the Gators will play a vanilla scheme as they get ready for their showdown with the Noles and Crimson Tide.