Florida Gators return to the field on Saturday afternoon to host the South Florida Bulls in the Swamp as part of college football’s Week 2 schedule.
Ahead of the action, the experts have been offering their predictions for the matchup, including ESPN’s Bill Connelly, who used his SP+ metric to evaluate this weekend’s slate of games. According to SP+, the Orange and Blue are favored by 20.3 points — compare that with the overall betting lines set at 17.5 and the FPI projection at 10.8 points.
“USF has the third-best odds of any G5 team to reach the CFP, and that’s with a likely loss in Gainesville this weekend. If the Bulls can pull an upset here or even give the playoff committee something to think about with a super-competitive loss, that will be quite the bonus,” Connelly offers.
“Is that actually likely? We’ll see,” he continues.
“USF’s offense was all-or-nothing against Boise State, and the Bulls started quite slowly overall and benefited from some turnovers (and) luck. Still, they’re super explosive, and they now face a Florida team that wasn’t all that explosive itself against Long Island last week.”
Gators Wire’s predictions for Florida vs USF in Week 2
Florida 41, USF 17: “The Bulls will not go down without a fight, but the Gators will prove to be too much for them in the Swamp.” — Adam Dubbin
Florida 34, USF 17: “USF might land a few punches (enough to cover the spread), but Florida should keep them in check.” — Aidan Gallardo
Florida 37, USF 14: “Assuming Lagway is more comfortable under center next week, the Gators should win easily.” — David Rosenberg
Read all of Gator Wire’s expert predictions for Florida’s Week 2 matchup against USF.
How to watch Florida vs USF in Week 2
The Gators host the Bulls on Saturday, Sept. 6, inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network and the opening kickoff is slated for 4:15 p.m. ET.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: ESPN’s SP+ predictions for Florida football’s Week 2 matchup vs USF
Reporting by Adam Dubbin, Gators Wire / Gators Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
