Swampcast discusses if Florida football can exceed preseason SEC predictions

In this week’s Swampcast. The Sun’s Kevin Brockway, Noah Ram and Andrew Abadie discuss SEC preseason predictions for Florida football and whether the Florida Gators can make a surprise move up the conference standings.

Florida was predicted to finish eighth in the SEC in Lindy’s college football preview, ninth in Athlon and tied for 11th in Phil Steele entering its first season under Jon Sumrall.

Brockway said an improved strength and conditioning program led by Rusty Whitt could help UF pull off more winnable games in the fourth quarter.

“I think back to last season and how many games in the fourth quarter they were within one score, tight, you look at LSU, you look at Miami, you look at Ole Miss, some of those games,” Brockway said. “And even in some of their wins, Texas, Mississippi, where they had one or two touchdown leads and barely hung on. So that’s a sign of a team to me that didn’t have enough left in the tank.”

Abadie mentioned that oddsmakers have the over-under for Florida football at 7 1/2 wins entering the 2026 season.

“It’s hard to judge what this team is supposed to do this season,” Abadie said. “It is still year one for a new coach. Yes, we’re still in the age of portal and NIL, there’s no transfer window this spring. He’s returning some players he didn’t want, brought in some good ones, it’s just so hard to gauge what this team is supposed to be this year, one way or another.”

Later in the podcast, Ram discussed UF’s sixth place finish in the Director’s Cup standings despite failing to win a national championship in any sport in an academic year for the first time since 2004-05.

“Football was a disappointment, yes,” Ram said. “You could say volleyball, by their standards, was a disappointment. Men’s basketball was outstanding. But sports like gymnastics, baseball, softball still had amazing seasons.”

Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Swampcast discusses if Florida football can exceed preseason SEC predictions