Capital One Orange Bowl
#24 Virginia Cavaliers (9-4) vs #9 Florida Gators (10-2)
Monday December 30, 2019, 8:00 PM (EST)
Hard Rock Stadium Miami Gardens, FL
FLA -13.5 Total 53.5
ESPN
Overview
The ACC's Coastal Division champion Virginia Cavaliers host the mighty Gators in the 84th edition of the Orange Bowl. Hard Rock Stadium at Miami Gardens, Florida hosts these two teams of orange and blue by virtue of Virginia being the top-rated, non-CFP, ACC team, and by Florida being the best at-large pick from SEC, B1G, or Notre Dame. The Gators are 2-1 in Hard Rock Stadium with a 2002 rout of Maryland 56-23, a 24-14 BCS championship victory over Oklahoma in 2009, and a 16-21 road loss to Miami in 2013. Florida is 1-0 all-time against Virginia by virtue of a 55-10 blowout in 1959. This is Virginia's first appearance in the Orange Bowl, but this is their 7th appearance in Miami Gardens, where they are 1-5 to this point with their last victory being in 2011 against the University of Miami.
Statistical Comparison
- Total Offense
- Florida #54, Virginia #82
- Passing Offense
- Florida #17, Virginia #37
- Rushing Offense
- Florida #122, Virginia #113
- Total Defense
- Florida #10, Virginia #40
- Passing Defense (yards allowed)
- Florida #17, Virginia #69
- Rushing Defense
- Florida #12, Virginia #30
- Miami vs
- #8 Florida @ Orlando, FL: won 24-20
- #20 Virginia @ Miami Gardens, FL: lost 9-17
- FSU vs
- #11 Florida @ Gainesville, FL: 40-17
- #25 Virginia @ Charlottesville, VA: won 31-24
Florida
- #11 QB JR Kyle Trask
213 comp 315 att 67.6% 2636 yds 8.4 ypa 24 TD 6 INT 159.2 RAT - #2 RB SR Lamical Perine
118 att 539 yds 4.6 ypr 4 TD 35 rec 219 yds 4 TD - #84 TE-H SO Kyle Pitts
51 rec 610 yds 12.0 ypc 5 TD - #10 WR-Z RSR Josh Hammond
6 att 101 yds 16.8 ypr 1 TD 27 rec 346 yds 12.8 ypc 2 TD - #89 WR-Y SR Tyrie Cleveland
22 att 300 yds 13.6 ypc 1 TD - #8 WR-Y JR/TR Trevon Grimes
32 rec 484 yds 15.1 ypc 3 TD - #1 LCB JR CJ Henderson
- #92 SDE SR Jabari Zuniga
- #58 BUCK GRSR Jonathan Greenard
- #33 MIKE SR David Reese III
36 solo 51 ast 87 tackles 3.5 TFL 2.0 SK - #3 STAR RSO Marco Wilson
22 solo 12 ast 34 tackles 2.5 TFL 3 INT 1 PD - #31 FS JR Shawn Davis
29 solo 18 ast 47 tackles 1.0 TFL 3 INT 111 YDS 3 PD
- #3 QB TRSR Bryce Perkins
292 comp 456 att 64.0% 3215 yds 7.1 ypa 18 TD 11 int 131.5 RAT
213 rush 745 yds 3.5 ypr 11 TD - #8 WR-X SR Hasise Dubois
65 rec 979 yds 15.1 ypc 4 TD - #21 SB SO Wayne Taulapapa
111 rush 459 yds 4.1 ypr 12 TD rush 5 rec 23 yds 4.6 ypc 0 TD - #33 SAM/BUCK JR Zane Zandler
42 solo 53 ast 95 tackles 11.5 TFL 5.0 SK 1 INT 22 yds 1 TD 5 PD - #15 SABRE RJR De'Vante Cross
32 solo 22 ast 54 tackles 4.0 TFL 1.0 SK 2 INT 87 yds 0 TD 5 PD
Prediction
The Gators are expected to win this one handily against the overconfident Cavaliers. The Gators will exploit the weak Cavalier pass defense, even with some of the senior receivers (#12 WR-X SR/TR Van Jefferson, #89 WR-Y SR Tyrie Cleveland, #10 WR-Z RSR Josh Hammond, and #16 WR-Z SR Freddie Swain) possibly sitting out for the NFL Draft. Expect to see more from Copeland, Grimes, Wells, and Toney. The Gators might take these 15 additional practices to get the run game going with younger running backs such as #20 RB SO Malik Davis, #27 RB SO Dameon Pierce, or even #24 RB FR Iverson Clement. Virginia's strength on offense is their passing, which plays into Florida's strength on defense, even without #1 LCB JR CJ Henderson sitting out for the NFL Draft. Virginia's QB has more rushing yards than Florida's running backs combined, so the Gators will need to contain UVA QB Bryce Perkins. Expect the Gators to reach 10 wins in back to back years under Dan Mullen by a score of 42-17.
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