For the first game of the 2019 college football season, the Florida Gators are predicted to win their Sunshine State showdown against the Miami Hurricanes.
The Gators are listed as a 7.5-point favorite on the spread against the Hurricanes for Saturday’s Camping World Kickoff game in Orlando. On the money line, the Gators are -290 while the Hurricanes have +240 odds to win. The total for the matchup is set at over/under 47 points.
Here’s the complete betting line for the college football opener found at popular online sportsbooks.
Florida-Miami Betting Line
- Spread: Florida -7.5
- ML: Florida -290, Miami +240
- O/U: 47
Although the Gators and Hurricanes do not have a traditional rivalry, they play on occasion and have a combined total of eight national championships. Miami leads the all-time series 29-26 and defeated UF 21-16 in their last matchup dating back to 2013. Miami has won seven of the last eight times in which it has squared off against UF.
But Spurrier, Zook, and Muschamp are names of the past at Florida and Dan Mullen now leads the Gators. He had a successful first year in Gainesville in 2018, leading the team to a 10-3 record, including notching his first in-state rivalry victory when his team thumped the Seminoles to end the regular season.
The Hurricanes are led by first-year head coach Manny Diaz who replaced Mark Richt at the end of 2018. He follows in the footsteps of some legendary coaches who built Miami into a tier-1 program. But those days are a little behind them and Diaz has some rebuilding to do.
The Hurricanes finished 2018 with a 7-6 record after getting slapped around in their bowl game against Wisconsin.
The Gators are legitimate national title contenders and return seven starters on defense, but the key to the game will probably be their quarterback.
UF’s starting quarterback Feleipe Franks can be shaky at times. A four-star recruit out of Crawfordville, Florida, Franks redshirted his first year in Gainesville and became the starter in 2017 as a redshirt freshman. The competition wasn’t strong and he had a rocky first year under center.
2018 was a quantum leap for the 6’ 6’’ quarterback. He posted solid numbers—23 touchdowns and only 6 interceptions—and proved that he could lead the offense—and win.
Miami skipper Manny Diaz will deploy a veteran defense but has an offense envied by few, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see UF snatch a victory and use this game to position itself for a SEC title run and possibly more.
Florida-Miami will kick off on Saturday, August 24th, at 7:00 p. m. (ET) at Camping World Stadium in Orlando. The game will be televised by ESPN.
