Florida football odds: Will the Gators beat their win total projection in 2017?

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Whether the Florida Gators will win the SEC East for the third straight season and advance to the 2017 SEC Championship Game can depend on a variety of factors, but it all starts with what Florida is able to do on the field this season.

Facing one of the most formidable schedules in program history — though the Gators will have a record-low number of true road games — Florida will also be entering the 2017 campaign looking to make major changes on both sides of the ball.

The Gators’ offense is still looking to hit its stride under head coach Jim McElwain entering Year 3, while the defense is replacing more than a handful of veteran starters and looking to find its footing under new coordinator Randy Shannon.

In other words, the road will not be easy.

Florida’s win total over/under has been set at 8.0 by Bovada with over paying out at -155 ($155 bet wins $100) and the under presently at +125 ($100 bet wins $125). As such, UF is projected to finish second in the SEC East behind Georgia. If you are thinking about placing so action, make sure to review market at Bovada.

Most projection models have the Gators falling in just below eight wins on the season, though it is an easy path to push this total starting out with five should-win games against Northern Colorado, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Missouri and UAB. In between, Florida would need to win just three of its remaining seven games against Michigan, Tennessee, LSU, Texas A&M, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida State.

Here’s the good news for the Gators: four of those games are at home, two are at neutral sites (Michigan, Georgia) and only South Carolina is a true road game.

So projecting out eight wins should be the expectation for Florida in 2017, despite some of the difficulties it will face entering the season. As such, the over is a bit more likely than the under, which is basically what the odds show.