Gators Trying To Avoid Back-To-Back Losses To Vanderbilt For The First Time Since 1945, 1946 Seasons

The Florida Gators will take on the Vanderbilt Commodores in The Swamp on Saturday for Homecoming. Vanderbilt comes into Gainesville as the winner of the previous game for the first time since 1989, coming off a Commodores win against Florida by a score of 31-24. The last time that Vanderbilt won in The Swamp was back in 2013 by a score of 34-17 during the Gators Will Muschamp era, and James Franklin coached the Commodores. During this series, especially in the 90s and more recently, Vanderbilt was always known for playing the Gators tough. However, last season, the Commodores were able to win at home against the Gators. As we all know, in Gainesville, the Vandy fans could storm the field in a single file line. To me, it was embarrassing that we could not at least win one game in Tennessee last season.

As usual, Vanderbilt struggles with opponents, but they are always ready to play the Gators. The Commodores are 2-4 on the season with losses to Wake Forest, UNLV, Kentucky, and Missouri. After the Tennessee win, Florida has also been struggling, which looked good until the Charlotte game with the red zone struggles away from The Swamp continued with a road loss at Kentucky. A game where Florida's defense struggled against the run, where Florida has been successful so far this season until last week. But sometimes games like Kentucky and Vanderbilt can be really unpredictable when you face a running game like last week.

Florida fans expect the Gators to run for homecoming and get back on the winning side, but I am concerned. What mindset do the Gators have coming off a loss in Lexington last week? But do they do they want to avenge last season's embarrassing loss in Nashville last season? If the Gators were to come out flat and somehow lose coming off the Kentucky loss, and Billy Napier loses to both teams in back-to-back seasons. The fanbase won't care about his way of building a program because you don't lose those kinds of games at Florida. I do expect Florida to get back on the winning side Saturday because they will want to not just win for the fans, but they want also to get back on track for the program for positive things.

From 1992-2010, the Vanderbilt game could be tough, but it was a sure guaranteed win for the Gators. Sure, Vanderbilt would show up and could play good defense at their very best because they could never have any offense. Florida would find a way to win late if they looked past Vandy, but it was a game where you knew you could take the kids because you knew the Gators would win. Recently, Vanderbilt has gotten better, and they have beaten us twice in recent years, but they will always be typical Vandy to me.