Florida-Alabama Prediction

The Crimson Tide head to The Swamp to take on the Gators in the biggest game of Week 3, and BetRivers is ready to break out the Florida-Alabama prediction, pick, and odds for Saturday afternoon. Alabama is a force to be reckoned with, and while the Gators enter the game ranked No. 11 in the country, very few, if any, are giving Florida a shot to pull off the upset. Florida has failed to cover the spread in seven of its last eight games, but each of the Gators’ last seven games against Top 5 teams have hit the over.

Longtime college sports writer Rob Dauster, the co-founder of The Field of 68 and The Field of 12 Network is here to break down the tantalizing matchup and provide his Florida-Alabama prediction for Week 3 of the college football season.

WEEK 3: INDIANA-CINCINNATI | PENN STATE-AUBURN | NOTRE DAME-PURDUE |

FLORIDA-ALABAMA PREDICTION:

#11 FLORIDA GATORS (2-0) vs. #1 ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE (2-0)
GAME: 3:30 p.m. ET, CBS
MONEYLINE: Alabama -770 ML, Florida +460 ML
SPREAD: Alabama -14.5
TOTAL: 60pts

FLORIDA-ALABAMA PUBLIC TRENDS:
Alabama ML: 82% handle, 88% bets
Alabama Spread: 86% handle, 72% bets
Over: 94% handle, 90% bets

As weird as it may sound, the biggest storyline coming out of this matchup has nothing to do with the No. 1 team in the country, the Death Star that is Alabama football, a two-tuddy favorite in the best game of your college football Saturday.

It has everything to do with Florida. On the one hand, the Gators are sitting here at 2-0 with a pair of 20 point wins against in-state foes. They are ranked 11th nationally, and junior QB Emory Jones has been good enough. The problem is that “good enough” isn’t going to get in done in a conference like the SEC, and the fact that he has thrown four picks in two games against USF and FAU is … well, it’s not great.

This wouldn’t really be a talking point right now except for the fact that freshman phenom Anthony Richardson has looked like the second coming of Mike Vick. In two games, he has 192 yards and two touchdowns as a passer and 275 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. He’s one all of that on 11 passes and 11 rushes. He’s a monster.

Will Dan Mullen make the switch in this game?

I think that we are going to see more of Richardson, assuming that his bum hamstring is up to the challenge, but I just cannot bring myself to bet against this Alabama team right now. Their offense looks like a juggernaut (again), and while Miami is not exactly The U of old, they could not get anything going against the Tide in their opener.

Personally, I lean towards the over here. I do think we’ll see some fireworks from a healthy Anthony Richardson. I also don’t think that Florida will be able to slow down Bryce Young and the Crimson Tide. Give me all the points.