Florida Searching For Answers Heading In To Week Three

After leading the SEC East over the past couple of season, Florida opened a new era in 2010-11, the first in three years where quarterback Tim Tebow wouldn’t be the team’s starter heading in to the year. The questions were endless concerning how the Gators’ offense would respond with the former Heisman trophy winner after he went in to the betting on NFL draft, including how John Brantley would do taking over in the starters role. Despite being undefeated through the first two weeks of the college football betting season, Florida has not looked nearly as dominant as they have been in the past, and with a plethora of projected weaknesses that other schools have taken note on, their reign atop the division may finally come to an end in 2010-11.

Florida couldn’t move the ball through the first half of their win over Miami of Ohio, but came together towards the second half to prevail by a final score of 34-12. The Gators didn’t look much better in the first half of their week two game against South Florida, tied at seven through the first two quarters, but then exploded for 31 points in the second half to out that game away 38-14. With a tough four week stretch coming up that will include traveling to Tennessee, then coming home for a game against Kentucky before visiting the number one-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide and hosting the number-15 LSU in consecutive weeks. This next month can ultimately determine where Florida ends up in the national rankings, as their streak atop the standings in the SEC East sportsbook division could finally come to an end.

The only factor working in the Gators’ favor heading in to this week is the lack of competition they face in the SEC East. With South Carolina improving to 2-0 last week with a win over number-22 Georgia, the Gamecocks have demonstrated that they will be Florida’s main competition to take the division. Aside from South Carolina however, there is little competition for the Gators. Tennessee is retooling their player and coaching personnel after former head coach Lane Kiffin bolted to USC in the offseason in the middle of his contract, leaving the Volunteers upset that they had committed to a program that would not feature the man they entrusted to run it. Kentucky is 2-0, but both of those betting wins have come against smaller schools, and the Wildcats will take on Florida in a couple of weeks. Georgia and Vanderbilt have each already suffered losses against teams from within the conference, and while the Bulldogs do have a win to their record this season, the Commodores have lost to both Northwestern and LSU to open the year. Florida heads in to week three looking for answers, and despite the fact that their still on top of the SEC East, they better find the solution to their problems fast as these next four games will be a strong challenge.