Florida vs. Vanderbilt Prediction, Game Preview

Is Vanderbilt (3-5) just good enough defensively to possibly catch someone napping? It’s going to need to come up with something special, and hope for a ton of luck, to get by a rolling Florida (7-1) team looking to make another big step towards the SEC title game. Check out the Vanderbilt vs. Florida game preview and prediction.

Vanderbilt vs. Florida Game Preview

Broadcast

Date: Saturday, Nov. 7
Game Time: 12:00 pm
Venue: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville, FL

Network: ESPN

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Why You Need To Care

Vanderbilt is still in the SEC East title race. Win out, and it takes the division.

It’s not like Vanderbilt has been totally awful, at least defensively. The offense is another story, but until last week’s meltdown against Houston – giving up a season-high 34 points in the shutout loss – the Commodores were just good enough to hang around with just about everyone and come up with a nice win over Missouri. Can they catch Florida looking ahead? With two home games next, a stunning win could turn this into a terrific stepping-stone season.

Florida rolled at will over a hapless Georgia team, but the intensity of the Gator D had a lot to do with that. Will everyone be fully focused now that it seems like the SEC East race is a done deal? Beat Vandy, and the SEC East championship is theirs, but the Gators have bigger and better things to work on with a spot in the playoff there for the taking by winning out. After being away from home for a month, they get three of their final four games at home – before going to Atlanta for the SEC championship. Maybe.

Why Vanderbilt Will Win

This isn’t the same Florida team of the past few years that had to run to win. Even with Treon Harris under center, the Gators are efficient and effective throwing the ball, while still relying on the defense to take care of the heavy lifting. The Commodores are solid against the run, and outside of having major problems against Ole Miss, the secondary has been good enough to get by. It’ll give up over 200 yards through the air, but it has yet to allow more than one touchdown pass in any game. Forget about the Houston game – the D won’t let this get out of hand.

Why Florida Will Win

Vanderbilt needs to win the turnover margin by a large margin to win. One problem – it won the turnover margin just once so far, going a +2 in the loss to Ole Miss. The defense is doing its part with around two takeaways a week over the last five games, but the offense can’t stop giving it up with 13 turnovers in the last four games. Florida is +13 in turnover margin and has yet to lose the TO battle going 6-0-2.

Player Who Matters

Demarcus Robinson might be Florida’s leading receiver, but it’s Antonio Callaway who’s looking like the new superstar to build around. The freshman only has 19 catches for 418 yards and three scores, and has a punt return for a touchdown, but he already has two of the team’s biggest plays of the season scoring against Tennessee and coming up with a backbreaker last week against Georgia. He has three 100-yard games on the year – Tennessee, LSU and Georgia – and while he might not be a workhorse target, he’s been dangerous averaging 22 yards per catch.

What’s Going To Happen?

Florida will look sluggish, and it won’t matter. There will be a hangover effect after the Georgia game, but with the SEC East title there to be won, the Gators will cruise in the second half.

Vanderbilt vs. Florida Prediction

Final Score: Florida 28, Vanderbilt 10, Line: Florida -21, o/u: 37.5

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