Florida Gators Still Attract Eyes Across 2024 Season

Despite a 7-5 finish to the season, the redemption tour en route to that finish kept the fans glued to their TVs

The Gators ranked high in the watchability rankings / Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

Gainesville, Fla. – It’s been a rough stretch for Billy Napier and his Florida Gators. They’ve struggled to compete year-to-year on the field, leading to some unpleasant watchalongs for fans. 

However, this is starting to change. 

According to Kelly Ford’s Team Watchability ratings, the Gators are actually one of the top five teams in the country for watchabilty. They come in at No. 5 on KFord Ratings for this stat with a rating of 8.3. The only teams better than them are USC (8.5), Alabama (8.4), LSU (8.4) and Georgia (8.4). 

The Team Watchability rating is based on the weighted score of a projected quality (average KFord Ratings) and competitiveness (KFord spread) for all regular season games. 

This placement is somewhat surprising given how the season started. The Gators won only two of their first four games and it was against Samford and Mississippi State. Their losses on the other hand, were to Miami and Texas A&M and neither game was particularly close. 

However, following their bye week, something flipped. The team entered every game with a different edge about them, and it resulted in way more competitive games and better wins. 

They played Tennessee to the brink in Knoxville, taking the Volunteers to overtime and coming up just short. Then, the week after, they dominated Kentucky in the Swamp. Following this game, the Gators were leading and looking to upset Georgia until DJ Lagway went down with an injury in the second quarter that took him out of that game and the next one against Texas. 

But the biggest indicator of this switch being flipped is how they ended the season. Their end to the year included home games against top-25 LSU, and top-10 Ole Miss and then a trip to Tallahassee to take on in-state rivals Florida State. They would go on to win all three to end their season 7-5 and make their first bowl game since the 2022 season. 

Furthermore, the defense came out with a point to prove. They held one of the top offenses in Ole Miss to 17 points, LSU to just 16 points and then the Seminoles only mustered up 11 total points through four quarters. When averaging it up, it comes out to just 14.7 points per game given up, which is pretty solid. 

And while this isn’t involved in the process of deciding this rating, the Gators also had Lagway behind the center, who was consistently making jaw-dropping plays week-to-week. 

So, while ending the season 7-5 isn’t what the Gator faithful will want to watch yearly if they can continue down the path they are on, then maybe the games will continue to get easier on the eyes.