SteemSports Presenter:
SteemSports Editor:
There is a full slate of college football games this Saturday. One of the marquee matchups will be between the #11th ranked Michigan Wolverines and the #17th ranked Florida Gators. They will be playing on a neutral field in Arlington, Texas, at AT&T Stadium. After a historically bad and stressful week in the Lone Star State, this game will give the people of Texas something else to think about, at least for a few hours.
Michigan and Florida have never played each other before in the regular season. Michigan has beaten them 3 times in a row in bowl games over the years though. But Florida has quite a streak going for themselves. They have won their season opener, 27 years in a row, which is a record.
Let's first take a look at the Michigan Wolverines:
Quarterback Wilton Speight is back for his junior year. He must improve on the 18 touchdowns he threw last year as more of the weight will be on his shoulders. Michigan lost their top running back as well as their top 3 receivers. Speight will need to make good decisions when he drops back as the Florida defensive line is extremely good. Evans and Higdon out of the backfield need to step up for this offense to move the ball consistently. The offensive line will not be as good as last year and they will be tested right off the bat by the Florida defense.
Jim Harbaugh's defense only has 1 returning starter back. But that stat is very deceiving as they have a ton of talent that is ready for their turn. The best defensive linemen will be Rashan Gary who will be rushing in from the end. In the middle of the line, they have Maurice Hurst who is a beast. This will be the strongest part of the defensive unit.
Unfortunately for the secondary, Jabrill Peppers is in the NFL. Jourdan Lewis and Channing Stribling are also in the pros which leaves little experience for the Wolverines. Florida’s passing offense will be testing the new defensive backs and safety. This is a big concern for Coach Harbaugh.
Now let's look at the Florida Gators:
The quarterback situation at Florida is much different from the Wolverines. Malik Zaire and Felipe Franks are both expected to play, but Franks gets the starting nod. They both have a lot of upside but lack the experience. It will be interesting to see how fast they can click with the rest of the offense. Florida will be strong in the run game and have a fantastic offensive line back that is full of experience. The best player for the offensive unit though will not be suiting up on Saturday. Wide Receiver, Antonio Callaway, is suspended, along with 9 other players. The inexperienced Wolverines secondary catches a huge break here.
The Gators defense is very good and led by Cece Jefferson and 2016 leading tackler, Marvell Harris. It will be extremely important for them to pressure Michigan quarterback, Speights. If they can get him on the run, he is prone to make poor choices with the football. The secondary for the Gators is good and shouldn't allow many big plays on Saturday.
Neither offenses are expected to be explosive in this game. The oddsmakers have the over/under set at 44.5, which is very low for a college football game. Michigan is the favorite with a -5 point spread.
You can see all of the action at 3:30pm Eastern Standard Time on ABC.