Dan Mullen gets a Gatorade bath following Saturday's win at Florida State. (Photo: Jay Metz/UAA Communications)
Gators' Bid for New Year's Six Bowl Strengthened
Tuesday, November 27, 2018 | Football, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – If Florida's demolition of Florida State on Saturday left any doubts, then the Gators' climb Tuesday night in the latest College Football Playoff rankings erased them.
The Gators appear to have a solid grip on a New Year's Six bowl berth. The bowl lineup will be announced Sunday following this weekend's slate of conference championship games.
UF Athletic Director Scott Stricklin says Gators have a strong case for New Year's Six bowl berth. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
Florida moved up two spots to No. 9, its highest ranking since reaching No. 8 in Week 11 of the 2015 season. Florida's first win over FSU since 2012, coupled with losses by LSU and Washington State – teams ahead of Florida in last week's CFB rankings – boosted the Gators.
UF Athletic Director Scott Stricklin, one of six new participants on the 13-member selection committee, praised head coach Dan Mullen for turning around a team that finished 4-7 a year ago.
The Gators won their final three regular-season games to finish 9-3 and move into contention for a coveted New Year's Six bowl.
"We put ourselves in a good position," Stricklin said following Saturday's victory. "We've got nine wins. We have wins over teams that are ranked in the top 10. All of our losses are to teams, if they are not ranked in the top 25, they probably will be."
Based on current bowl projects, Florida is likely headed to either the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl to face UCF or Penn State, or possibly the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl. Michigan, which dropped from fourth to seventh following last week's loss to Ohio State, is another potential bowl opponent for the Gators.
A Florida-UCF matchup in Atlanta would be intriguing for fans and media considering the schools are located only 125 miles apart and have played just twice, in 1999 and 2006.
Here's the full #CFBPlayoff Top 2️⃣5️⃣ rankings for games played through November 24.
"I would love to play them,'' Gators linebacker David Reese said. "Own the state. It's an opportunity we don't get every year, but you know, since that opportunity might be ahead of us, we're excited for it."
Stricklin said Florida would be "on board" should a bowl matchup against UCF come to fruition.
The Knights, No. 8 Tuesday in the CFB Playoff rankings, extended the nation's longest winning streak to 24 games with a victory on Friday against USF and must beat Memphis on Saturday in the American Athletic Conference championship game to clinch a spot in a New Year's Six bowl game. UCF lost starting quarterback McKenzie Milton to a devastating knee injury in Friday's win when Milton was hit on the knee and his leg bent at an awkward angle. The Knights, who defeated Auburn in last year's Peach Bowl, are also in contention for a Fiesta Bowl berth if they defeat Memphis.
Whether it's UCF, Penn State or another opponent, the Gators are eager for a chance to show off their improvement. A New Year's Six bowl game seemed a distant possibility after midseason losses to Georgia, No. 4 in the latest rankings, and No. 24 Missouri.
"It means a lot,'' transfer receiver Van Jefferson said. "Last time I went to a bowl game was when Ole Miss played Oklahoma State in the Sugar Bowl, but I wasn't playing, I redshirted so I really didn't have a factor in that. So it just feels great to go back to a New Years Six bowl and get to play in one."
Tuesday was the one-year anniversary of the press conference where Stricklin introduced Mullen as Florida's new head coach. The two worked together at Mississippi State and stressed the importance of a quick turnaround and the Gators getting back to competing for Southeastern Conference and national championships.
A New Year's Six bowl win would be a good first season.
"When you're at Florida you learn to have pretty high expectations," Stricklin said. "But I'm incredibly pleased. It would be hard to have anticipated this first year going as well as it has. Not just the win total, but the offense being turned around. It's not what it's going to be, but it's a lot of fun now."
Mullen has been on the road recruiting since Saturday's victory over the Seminoles. He said Saturday that the team's turnaround is worthy of consideration for one of the elite bowl games. Florida's three losses are to teams currently in the CFB Playoff rankings (No. 4 Georgia, No. 15 Kentucky and No. 24 Missouri).
"I think we deserve to be in the conversation for it,'' he said. "But you know what, there's a lot of teams out there in the country. There's a lot of games still to be played and championship games that have automatic bids that could affect it. We'll see how it plays out. We put ourselves in a tough position back a couple weeks ago, but over the last three weeks we clawed and fought our way back to put ourselves in the conversation."
