The #6 Florida Gators head to Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores. Florida is favored by 31 points and the O/U is at 68. Florida leads the all-time series 41-10-2, with the mighty Gators winning 28 of the last 29. Florida is 19-7-1 in Nashville. They are 22-2-1 in Gainesville against the 'Dores.
Last week Kyle Trask broke Tua Tagovailoa's SEC record for TD passes through 6 games with 28, which tied Texas Tech's Graham Harrell (2007) for all QBs. The Gators have scored 275 points in 6 games, which is their 3rd-highest behind the 1996 Gators (315) and the 1994 Gators (287). The Gators have scored 6 straight 35-point outings against SEC teams for the first time since 2008. The Gators also did this in 1996. Florida is coming off its first 60-point game against an SEC opponent since 2008's 63-5 win over Kentucky. Dan Mullen is tied with Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer for the best 32-game start by a head coach at Florida at 26-6.
The Gators tossed 7 TD for the 7th time in school history, with Trask throwing 6 of them and making him the 7th QB in SEC history to have multiple 6-TD performances. He joins Danny Wuerffel (twice) and Terry Dean (twice) as the only other Gators to accomplish this. By scoring 50+ points for the 5th time under Dan Mullen, the Gators have matched the number of times they scored 50+ since 2010.
The Gator defense is slowly improving, but it is still susceptible to the big play. Florida somehow leads the SEC in sacks with 3.17 per game and is tied for #2 in the league with 6.67 TFLs per game.
Look for Vanderbilt QB Ken Seals to try and maintain his 70.3% completion average while minimizing his bad habit of tossing up interceptions. The 'Dores will likely switch out QBs in the red zone and swap in Mike Wright. Vandy's best runner is Keyon Henry-Brooks, but he might not be available due to rib injury. Ja'Veon Marlow is a suitable substitute coming off 4-game suspension for violating team rules. The Florida defense is giving up 30 points per game and 411.3 yards, but the 'Dores struggle to make those marks.
Last year the Gators got off to a slow start and still won 56-0. The 2020 Gator offense is much more potent, and they should have no problems eclipsing that. The question is whether Vandy can eke out just enough offense to exploit the Gators' anemic secondary. The largest margin of victory for the Gators against Vandy was 71-13 in 2001. I predict the Gators surpass that mark and win 72-10.