Mario Cristobal and Billy Napier will commence a back-to-back series of match ups in which Miami Hurricanes and Florida Gators will play each other the next two years. Both will exchange home-field advantages. This end of August will be in Gainesville, both coaches are heading into critical seasons after a disappointing start to their tenures. In the case of Mario, he has a much easier schedule to embark on as opposed to his week one opponent. The following three games, the Hurricanes will face Florida A&M, Ball State, and USF for the following three weeks. They only see two teams in the Associated Press Preseason Top 25 rankings. Billy Napier doesn’t have that benefit as nine of his opponents, including Miami, are in the top 25.
Of course, preseason rankings will be far different from what they will be in November. It still doesn’t change that 2024 fall will be a crucial year for both programs to rise above their current trajectories. Miami is attempting to make the CFPs for the first time while Florida is trying to end a streak of beneath .500 records. Billy Napier also aims to buy himself more time to remain at his job at Florida. Cristobal and Napier head into their 2024 schedules with losing records, including a combined 0-4 record vs. their rival in Florida State. While each coach has had their struggles, one can make the argument that Cristobal’s losses at Miami have been far more embarrassing than Napier’s losses at Florida.
In 2022, Napier became the first Florida coach to lose on the road at Vanderbilt since 1988, but it's nothing compared to Middle Tennessee putting 45 points on Miami and getting paid $1M in the process. On last year’s Veteran’s Day weekend, Florida became the only SEC team to lose to Arkansas but they weren’t 4-0 and ranked #17 in the nation losing to Georgia Tech who lost to Bowling Green a week earlier, that was Miami. Florida made tons of errors while losing on the road to Utah, penalties on special teams, missed field goals, and a play where nine players were on the field. Yet they didn’t turn the ball over eight times in a game, Miami did in 2022 against Duke. I can go on.
The point is this: This is an important game for both programs. Miami while having the benefit of an easier schedule, can’t afford to lose to a program that is teetering on possibly firing their coach if they want to compete in the postseason. If they can’t beat Florida, how will they fare against the possible contenders of their conference such as Louisville, Virginia Tech, and Florida State? For Florida, they need to win seven games at minimum to right the ship and probably preserve their coach. A loss to Miami before facing A&M two weeks later and still having to play Tennessee and Kentucky before the treacherous five-game stretch to end the season would be a severe punch to the gut. Most season openers don’t carry major implications down the road, but this one does.
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