How Will Florida Football Teams Fair This Year?

The State of Florida has always been a hot spot for football. They have some of the most exciting players in college and in professional football. From Jarvis Landry to Dalvin Cook, they have the talent. Seeing as though most of the readers of this blog are fans of Florida-based teams, I will look at how each team looks to make their mark in their respective divisions this year.

Florida State Seminoles

The Seminoles are reloading at almost every position and are looking to make a statement week one against the Ole Miss Rebels. Redshirt Freshman quarterback Deondre Francois has been given the nod to start in light of incumbent senior Sean Maguire. Running back Dalvin Cook looks to add to his legacy and contend for the Heisman trophy this season. True Sophomore Safety Derwin James Jr. and Senior Defensive End Demarcus Walker round out the stout defense that can be top five in the country.

The Seminoles have a mountain to climb this season having one of the five hardest schedules in college football. The first AP Poll shows that the Seminoles will face five ranked opponents this season, three of them are road games. There is a possible sixth and seventh if Miami and USF can get their act together by week four.

Many have picked the Seminoles to contend for the National Title this year. This year requires Florida State to play at an elite level, which will help them get ready to face the other playoff teams come New Years.

Florida Gators

The Gators just squeaked into the Top 25 this season at 25. Jim McElwain going into his second year with Florida is a big help due to the talent he still has on the team. The SEC East Champs are without some key pieces like first-round pick Vernon Hargraves II at cornerback and DE Johnathan Bullard. They have recently named Luke Del Rio the starting quarterback after the release of former QB Treon Harris. This team relies heavily on defense with CB Jalen Tabor and S Marcus Maye leading in the secondary.

The Gators have a relatively easy schedule this year. The first three games are against UMass, Kentucky, and North Texas. These teams ranked 65th and below in total offense and 59th and below in total defense. After the easy games, they go to 9 Tennessee. Personally, I believe Tennessee is overrated, but their has to be some truth in QB Joshua Dobbs. Hosting 5 LSU helps their chances of contending in the East, but will rely on their defense to stop Leonard Fournette. They end at Florida State. Florida was the last team to beat the Seminoles at home in 2012, but the Gators have been outscored the past three seasons 88-28.

A ranked Georgia and Tennessee are Florida's biggest SEC games. If they want to return to the SEC Championship, they will have to beat them both on the road. The Gators will likely not make an appearance in the top 10 due to a poor schedule, but they can still contend for a New Year's Six Bowl if the offense can work itself out.

Miami Hurricanes

The Hurricanes are looking to capitalize on their quarterback Brad Kayya before he leaves this season for the NFL Draft. Miami fired Al Golden and brought in former Georgia HC Mark Richt to bring a more positive attitude to South Beach. Miami lost two players to the draft last year including first-round pick CB Artie Burns. The problem for Miami will be the emergence of players who are not on people's radar. Look for DE Trent Harris to make a splash this season.

Miami has a weak schedule. The ranked games they play are all conference games against 4 Florida State, 10 Notre Dame, and 22 North Carolina. They are on the weak side of the ACC which does give them a shot to contend for their first ACC Championship since joining the conference in 2004. They will have to get through a few trap games like Virginia Tech on a Thursday night and at Notre Dame.

Miami will likely have a winning record this year. The Coastal Division of the ACC is very weak and Miami is clearly the powerhouse of that side. They have some hills to climb before they can call themselves champs and will rely heavily on new player's contributing to their offense and defense.

Central Florida Knights

On the bright side, there's nowhere to go but up for the Knights. UCF has had a huge fall from grace since the 2013 Fiesta Bowl season. From 12-1 with a top quarterback in Blake Bortles to 0-12 without a top recruit in sight. All UCF has to do this year is win one game and they can call this season a success.

The Knights lost by ~24.5 points last year in every game. George O'Leary retired halfway through the season after serving as Head Coach and Athletic Director. The school brought in Oregon Offensive Coordiator Scott Frost to take over for the foreseeable future. This addition could bring Central Florida back up the AAC ladder. The fast pace, no-huddle offense has given many teams a great deal of trouble since Chip Kelly began using it at Oregon. It does not require a ton of great talented personnel which is great for the Group of 5 conference teams.

The Knights just need one win. That is all it takes. Looking at their schedule, if they run the no-huddle offense, they can easily win five games.

South Florida Bulls

This team is a dark horse (or bull) to make it into the top 25. When it came to votes in the AP Poll, USF would be ranked 41 right now. The Bulls have a solid QB with Quinton Flowers at the helm. Running back Marlon Mack is one of the top 10 backs in the country and is a bell cow. These two combine for 2,372 yards on the ground in 2015.

USF has one game one ranked game on their schedule: Florida State. The Bulls will host the Seminoles in week four. This is a trap game for the Noles. If USF can steal this game, there would be nothing between them and the AAC Title game. Even if they do lose, they still have an easy schedule that would bring them to the title game. They do have back to back road games at Memphis and SMU in weeks 11 and 12 before facing Interstate-4 rival UCF that could hinder their chances down the stretch.

USF has the best chance to take the AAC East. They have the most talent. This would likely end with a meeting between the Bulls and the Cougars of University of Houston.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Moving on to the NFL, the Jags are poised to be the best team in Florida in 2016. Blake Bortles is coming into his own and has one of the best casts to throw to on Sundays. The unit that people are excited for is the defense. Jacksonville picked up DE Malik Jackson from Denver and CB Prince Amukamara from New York. They used their first tow picks on defensive players regarded as the best at their position, CB/S Jalen Ramsey and OLB Myles Jack. The Jags 2015 first-round pick Dante Fowler Jr. returns after missing his rookie season due to a torn ACL.

The Jaguars play in the weakest conference in the NFL, but they do have some stiff competition in the Texans and Colts. They face the NFC North this year, meeting with the Green Bay Packers in week one and the Minnesota Vikings in week 14. The toughest road game Jacksonville will play will be Thanksgiving weekend against the Bills. Jacksonville will have to worry about a stout defense, a run-heavy offense, and the frigid weather of upstate New York.

People are quick to say that the Jaguars will return to the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons. They have a shot to do so if their latest acquisitions play up to their expectations, but I do not see this defense becoming elite for another season or two. I do see Jacksonville winning enough games to get themselves out of the bottom 10 teams in the league and making people wary of facing them.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Lovie Smith Era was very short lived. And so begins the Dirk Koetter Era in Tampa. The Bucs have a lot to look forward to in 2016. Jameis Winston is in his second season and is a sleeper to become an MVP candidate. Doug Martin is looking like his old self again and could have another 1,000+ yard season. The defense fixed many problems by adding veteran CB Brent Grimes and DE Robert Ayers along with their first two picks of CB Vernon Hargraves II and DT Noah Spence.

It will be very hard to contend in a division that contains Cam Newton, Julio Jones, and Drew Brees, but Tampa Bay can do it. As for the rest of their schedule, they face the NFC West where they will travel to Arizona in week two, but get the home game against Seattle in week 12. Arizona will be the biggest road opponent for the Bucs. They also play the AFC West. While all of these teams (except the Chargers) are above average, there is a solid chance the Buccaneers can go 4-0 against the division.

Tampa is still a work in progress. And with Cam Newton playing like an MVP, they are not winning the NFC South title any time soon. Wild card is an option, but not this season. The Bucs will rely heavily on the wide receivers not dropping the ball. Mike Evans alone had 11 drops last season and caught only 50% of his targets; last among players with at least 70 catches.

Miami Dolphins

So maybe this is the Dolphins' year. Maybe Tannehill blows us all away. Maybe Suh plays up to what his contract is worth. Maybe. Just maybe.

The Dolphins fired Joe Philbin after starting the season 1-3 and promoted TE Coach Dan Campbell to interim Head Coach who finished the season 5-7. The Dolphin Organization got Bears OC Adam Gase to come to Miami and be the new HC for the 2016 season. Gase was the former OC for the Broncos when Peyton Manning had his recording breaking 2013 season and made Tim Tebow a viable starter.

When it comes to the personnel, Miami has it in spades at the skill positions. Jarvis Landry, DeVante Parker, and Kenny Stills make up a diverse receiving core while Jay Ajayi teams with former pro-bowler Arian Foster in the running game. As for the defense, the line should be the most dominate in the NFL. Mario Williams, Cameron Wake, and Ndumakong Suh are all massive players with a great deal of experience. This unit, paired with LB Koi Misi and the recently acquired LB Kiko Alonso and CB Byron Maxwell give Fins fans a lot of hope for this season.

Miami is 11th in strength of schedule and it is not pretty. Their first to games are road games against two of the last three Super Bowl Champions: Seattle and New England. Even without Brady at the helm, Belichick has out coached teams for years. They also have to go to the Bengals and Ravens along with their required trips to Buffalo and New York. This is the hardest road schedule. If Miami wants to contend in the AFC East, they are going to have to start fast and not slow down.

With Miami's schedule the way it is and certain positions being in question, Miami fans may have to wait a bit longer for their trip to the playoffs.