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2018 Florida Gators football team

The 2018 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Gators played their home games at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. Florida played as a member of the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They were led by first-year head coach Dan Mullen.

Florida, coming off a 4–7 season in 2017, began the year unranked. In the second game of the season, not only did the team lose to Kentucky for the first time since 1986, but they also lost to them at home for the first time since 1979, snapping a 31-game winning streak in the series.[2] Florida won its next five games, including on the road against No. 23 Mississippi State and at home against No. 5 LSU, rising to ninth in the AP Poll. They then lost two games to No. 7 Georgia and Missouri and ended the conference regular season tied for second in the SEC East Division at 5–3. After closing the regular season by defeating rival Florida State, they were invited to the Peach Bowl, where they defeated No. 8 Michigan by a score of 41–15. The team finished with an overall record of 10–3, and in the season's final AP Poll, the team was ranked in a tie for seventh, the highest finish for the school since 2009.

The team was led on offense by redshirt sophomore quarterback Feleipe Franks, who finished with 2,457 passing yards, 24 passing touchdowns, and 7 rushing touchdowns. His 31 total touchdowns was tied for third in the Southeastern Conference.[3] Running backs La'Mical Perine and Jordan Scarlett finished with 826 and 776 yards, respectively. Defensively, the team was led by defensive end Jachai Polite, who finished with 20 tackles for loss and was named first-team All-SEC.

Preseason

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

SEC media poll

The SEC media poll was released on July 20, 2018, with the Gators predicted to finish third in the East Division.[13]

Preseason All-SEC teams

The Gators had eight players selected to the preseason all-SEC teams.

Schedule

Rankings

Game summaries

Charleston Southern

Charleston Southern Buccaneers at Florida Gators – Game summary

at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium • Gainesville, Florida

  • Date: September 1, 2018
  • Game time: 7:30 p.m.
  • Game weather: Temperature: 85 °F (29 °C) • Wind: E at 7 miles per hour (11 km/h) • Weather: 67% humidity, clear
  • Game attendance: 81,164
  • Referee: John McDaid
  • TV announcers (SEC Network): Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers, and Cole Cubelic[14]
  • Boxscore

Kentucky

Kentucky Wildcats at Florida Gators – Game summary

at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium • Gainesville, Florida

  • Date: September 8, 2018
  • Game time: 7:30 p.m.
  • Game weather: Temperature: 79 °F (26 °C) • Wind: ESE at 1 mile per hour (1.6 km/h) • Weather: 81% humidity, partly cloudy
  • Game attendance: 80,651
  • Referee: David Smith
  • TV announcers (SEC Network): Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers, and Cole Cubelic[15]
  • Boxscore

Colorado State

Colorado State Rams at Florida Gators – Game summary

at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium • Gainesville, Florida

  • Date: September 15, 2018
  • Game time: 4:00 p.m.
  • Game weather: Temperature: 96 °F (36 °C) • Wind: SW at 14 miles per hour (23 km/h) • Weather: 45% humidity, partly cloudy
  • Game attendance: 80,021
  • Referee: Marc Curles
  • TV announcers (SEC Network): Taylor Zarzour, Matt Stinchcomb, and Kris Budden[16]
  • Boxscore

Tennessee

Florida Gators at Tennessee Volunteers – Game summary

at Neyland Stadium • Knoxville, Tennessee

  • Date: September 22, 2018
  • Game time: 7:00 p.m.
  • Game weather: Temperature: 85 °F (29 °C) • Wind: N at 3 miles per hour (4.8 km/h) • Weather: Partly cloudy
  • Game attendance: 100,027
  • Referee: James Carter
  • TV announcers (ESPN): Adam Amin, Rod Gilmore, and Quint Kessenich[17]
  • Boxscore

Mississippi State

Florida Gators at Mississippi State Bulldogs – Game summary

at Davis Wade Stadium • Starkville, Mississippi

  • Date: September 29, 2018
  • Game time: 6:00 p.m.
  • Game weather: Temperature: 79 °F (26 °C) • Wind: N at 1 mile per hour (1.6 km/h) • Weather: Partly cloudy
  • Game attendance: 61,406
  • Referee: Matt Austin
  • TV announcers (ESPN): Dave Pasch, Greg McElroy, Tom Luginbill[18]
  • Boxscore

LSU

LSU Tigers at Florida Gators – Game summary

at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium • Gainesville, Florida

  • Date: October 6, 2018
  • Game time: 3:30 p.m.
  • Game weather: Temperature: 88 °F (31 °C) • Wind: ENE at 7 miles per hour (11 km/h) • Weather: 51% humidity, sunny
  • Game attendance: 90,283
  • Referee: Matt Loeffler
  • TV announcers (CBS): Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson, and Jamie Erdahl[19]
  • Boxscore

Vanderbilt

Florida Gators at Vanderbilt Commodores – Game summary

at Vanderbilt Stadium • Nashville, Tennessee

  • Date: October 13, 2018
  • Game time: 12:00 p.m.
  • Game weather: Temperature: 50 °F (10 °C) • Wind: NE at 7 miles per hour (11 km/h) • Weather: Cloudy
  • Game attendance: 31,118
  • Referee: Lee Hedrick
  • TV announcers (ESPN): Dave Pasch, Greg McElroy, Tom Luginbill[20]
  • Boxscore

Georgia

Florida Gators vs. Georgia Bulldogs – Game summary

at TIAA Bank Field • Jacksonville, Florida

  • Date: October 27, 2018
  • Game time: 3:30 p.m.
  • Game weather: Temperature: 68 °F (20 °C) • Wind: W at 13 miles per hour (21 km/h) • Weather: Mostly cloudy
  • Game attendance: 84,463
  • Referee: Matt Loeffler
  • TV announcers (CBS): Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson, and Jamie Erdahl[21]
  • Boxscore

Missouri

Missouri Tigers at Florida Gators – Game summary

at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium • Gainesville, Florida

  • Date: November 3, 2018
  • Game time: 4:00 p.m.
  • Game weather: Temperature: 68 °F (20 °C) • Wind: NNE at 10 miles per hour (16 km/h) • Weather: Sunny
  • Game attendance: 80,017
  • Referee: John McDaid
  • TV announcers (SEC Network): Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers, Cole Cubelic[22]
  • Boxscore

South Carolina

South Carolina Gamecocks at Florida Gators – Game summary

at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium • Gainesville, Florida

  • Date: November 10, 2018
  • Game time: 12:00 p.m.
  • Game weather: Temperature: 68 °F (20 °C) • Wind: N at 8 miles per hour (13 km/h) • Weather: 83% humidity, cloudy
  • Game attendance: 82,696
  • Referee: David Smith
  • TV announcers (ESPN): Dave Pasch, Greg McElroy, Tom Luginbill[23]
  • Boxscore

Idaho

Idaho Vandals at Florida Gators – Game summary

at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium • Gainesville, Florida

  • Date: November 17, 2018
  • Game time: 12:00 p.m.
  • Game weather: Temperature: 65 °F (18 °C) • Wind: NE at 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h) • Weather: Sunny
  • Game attendance: 81,467
  • Referee: James Carter
  • TV announcers (ESPNU): Kevin Brown and Andre Ware[24]
  • Boxscore

Florida State

Florida Gators at Florida State Seminoles – Game summary

at Doak Campbell Stadium • Tallahassee, Florida

  • Date: November 24, 2018
  • Game time: 12:00 p.m.
  • Game weather: Temperature: 66 °F (19 °C) • Wind: NW at 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h) • Weather: 94% humidity, 30% chance of rain
  • Game attendance: 71,953
  • Referee: Gary Patterson
  • TV announcers (ABC): Dave Pasch, Greg McElroy, Tom Luginbill[25]
  • Boxscore

Michigan (Peach Bowl)

Florida Gators vs. Michigan Wolverines – Game summary

at Mercedes-Benz Stadium • Atlanta, GA

Personnel

Roster

As of September 23, 2018[26]

Coaching staff

Recruits

The Gators signed a total of 19 recruits.

Players drafted into the NFL

References

  1. ^ Journal, Logan Lowery Daily. "MSU fires Moorhead after two seasons". Daily Journal. All eight of Moorhead's victories in 2018 had to be vacated after 10 football players were reprimanded by the NCAA for academic misconduct involving a former part-time tutor and an online chemistry class.
  2. ^ "Kentucky stns No. 25 Florida; first win over Gators since '86". ESPN.com. Associated Press. September 8, 2018.
  3. ^ "2018 Southeastern Conference Year Summary". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
  4. ^ "2018 Watch List | Lott IMPACT Trophy | Honoring College Football's Defensive Best". lottimpacttrophy.org. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  5. ^ "Rimington Trophy Press Release". May 30, 2018. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
  6. ^ "2018 Bednarik Award Watch List". July 16, 2018. Archived from the original on July 16, 2018. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
  7. ^ "Butkus Award - 2018 Collegiate Watchlist". The Butkus Award. July 23, 2018. Archived from the original on August 20, 2010. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
  8. ^ "2018 Bronko Nagurski Trophy Preseason Watch List". July 24, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  9. ^ "22018 OUTLAND TROPHY WATCH LIST UNVEILED". July 24, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  10. ^ "Wuerffel Trophy Unveils 2018 Watch List". July 26, 2018. Archived from the original on July 26, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  11. ^ "Preseason Watch List - 2018 edition of the Ted Hendricks Award" (PDF). August 14, 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 14, 2018. Retrieved August 16, 2018.
  12. ^ "2018 Nominations The Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award" (PDF). August 16, 2018. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
  13. ^ "Media predicts Alabama to win 2018 SEC Championship".
  14. ^ Charleston Southern Pregame Notes
  15. ^ Kentucky Pregame Notes
  16. ^ Colorado State Pregame Notes
  17. ^ Tennessee Pregame Notes
  18. ^ Mississippi State Pregame Notes
  19. ^ LSU Pregame Notes
  20. ^ Vanderbilt Pregame Notes
  21. ^ Georgia Pregame Notes
  22. ^ Missouri Pregame Notes
  23. ^ South Carolina Pregame Notes
  24. ^ Idaho Pregame Notes
  25. ^ Florida State Pregame Notes
  26. ^ "2018 Football Roster". Florida Gators. Retrieved April 22, 2018.