Underrated SEC teams in preseason poll: Florida
Now, we turn to the teams who are underrated, and to kick things off, let's take a look at the team with maybe the hardest schedule in the entire nation. I'm speaking, of course, of the Florida Gators.
While I think most of the above poll was essentially a power ranking of the teams, Florida is the one team that I think was significantly affected by their schedule. If we're talking actual quality of the teams, I'd have the Gators up ahead of Auburn, and possibly ahead of Tennessee/OU.
UF will struggle to reach bowl eligibility, though. The Gators close with a stretch against UGA, Texas, LSU, Ole Miss, and FSU, not to mention early games against A&M, Miami, and Tennessee. Like I said about OU, all of those teams are either decidedly better than Florida, or right around the same level of quality.
With the talent on this UF squad, I think they should slot comfortable as a top-40 team in the nation; however, that might be enough for only four or five wins facing this schedule. I don't think they're worse than Kentucky or Auburn, but it may be tough to see that this season.