The Florida Gators will try to rebound from a disappointing loss to the Kentucky Wildcats when they take on the Colorado State Rams. The Gators lost 27-16 to the Wildcats and it snapped Florida’s 31-game winning streak against Kentucky. Florida will look to rebound against Colorado State who is 1-2 on the season with a win versus Arkansas. This game was scheduled back in 2015 when Jim McElwain was the head coach at Florida. McElwain came from Colorado State before becoming the head coach at Florida. Now, Dan Mullen is the head coach at Florida and McElwain is the wide receiver coach at Michigan. Here is the Florida Gators vs. Colorado State Rams preview.
Florida Gators vs. Colorado State Rams Preview
Colorado State Rams
The Colorado State Rams come into the Swamp with a 1-2 record. The Rams lost to Colorado and Hawaii in the first two weeks of the season but upset Arkansas last week. The Rams offense is led by quarterback K.J. Carta-Samuels. The redshirt senior has had a solid start to his season with a 64.6 completion percentage. He also has thrown for 1,102 yards, eight touchdowns and three interceptions. Their top receiver is redshirt junior Preston Williams. He has 27 receptions for 391 yards and four touchdowns. Olabisi Johnson is another top receiver for Colorado State with 17 catches for 286 yards and three touchdowns.
On defense, the Rams will try to improve on their early season struggles as they have given up over 30 points in all of their games. Their defensive line has only had one sack this season and will try to take advantage of Florida’s weak offensive line. Their secondary has been pretty solid with three interceptions on the season from Jordan Fogal, V.J. Banks and Emmanuel Jones. The Rams lead tackler is redshirt senior linebacker Josh Watson. He had 40 tackles on the season with one tackle for loss and a fumble recovery.
Florida Gators
The Florida Gators offense will look to rebound after a bad loss to the Kentucky Wildcats. Redshirt sophomore Feleipe Franks had a pretty decent game against the Wildcats but didn’t have much help from his offensive line. The biggest key for Florida against the Colorado State Rams will be for the offensive line to have a good day. Florida is very talented at running back but their backs haven’t played as well as they are capable of due to offensive line struggles. Florida also needs to do a better job of catching the football as they had a lot of drops which cost Florida points and first down conversions.
The Gators defense also needs to have a much better game than last week. The defense had a horrible night against the Kentucky rushing attack. They gave up over 300 yards on the ground and missed 20 tackles over 168 extra yards. One of the only defensive players that show out as the sophomore cornerback C.J. Henderson. He will also be without Marco Wilson as he tore his ACL last game and is done for the season. Freshman Trey Dean will be the new starting cornerback and could be targeted frequently since Wilson is out.
5 Players to Watch: Colorado State Rams
- QB K.J. Carta-Samuels
- LB Josh Watson
- WR Preston Williams
- CB Jordan Fogal
- WR Olabisi Johnson
5 Players to Watch: Florida Gators
- RB Lamical Perine
- CB C.J. Henderson
- WR Kadarius Toney
- DE Jachai Polite
- QB Feleipe Franks
5 Predictions:
- Feleipe Franks throws for over 200 yards and two touchdown passes.
- WR Preston Williams gets in the end zone.
- Florida’s defense forces two turnovers.
- LB Josh Watson leads the Rams in tackles.
- Florida beats Colorado State 38-20.
