College Football Predictions: Will Bama meet Florida in SEC Title Game? 7/11/17

Posted on July 11, 2017

At least one national college football pundit believes that Alabama and Florida will once again meet in the SEC Championship Game this upcoming season.

SEC Network’s Paul Finebaum predicts that the Crimson Tide and Gators will clash in this upcoming season’s conference championship match up. If that prediction lands, it would be the third consecutive season that Alabama and Florida played in the SEC title game. The Crimson Tide beat the Gators 29-15 in 2015. They then routed Florida 54-16 in 2016.

Odds to Win SEC Championship

While Finebaum likes the Tide and Gators, what do the odds say? According to oddsmakers, Alabama is a 5/7 favorite to win the SEC Conference Championship. Florida, meanwhile, does not have the next-best odds to win the SEC conference. That honor belongs to Auburn, which has 9/2 odds. LSU is 19/4, followed by Georgia at 6/1, then UF comes in at 8/1.

Continuing with the odds, Tennessee is 25/1 to win the SEC Conference Championship in 2017. Texas A&M is 40/1, then Arkansas and Mississippi State are 70/1, respectively. The deep long shots include Kentucky and South Carolina at 100/1, respectively. Missouri and Vanderbilt have the longest odds in the conference at 225/1, respectively.

Season Outlook: Alabama & Florida

The Crimson Tide will once again be led by Nick Saban’s outstanding defense. That’s not to suggest the offense will be short on stars. Calvin Ridley, who caught 72 passes for 769 yards and seven touchdowns last season, is one of the top draft-eligible prospects at his position entering the 2017 season. Running back Bo Scarbrough also joins quarterback Jalen Hurts and fellow back Damien Harris to form one of the best backfield trios in the conference.

As for Florida, the Gators could receive a huge bump offensively if Notre Dame transfer Malik Zaire wins the starting quarterback job. The gunslinger will compete with Feleipe Franks and Luke Del Rio for the starting job this August and if he can handle Jim McElwain’s offense, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Finebaum’s prediction of a Bama-UF rematch come to fruition.