‘Don’t Go 4-8’ — Analyst Gets Candid About Florida’s Brutal 2025 Schedule

The Florida Gators started off the 2024 season looking like one of the worst teams in college football. On top of a brutal schedule, the Gators lacked consistent quarterback play, leading to a challenging year.

Florida finished the 2024 regular season with a 5-7 record and did not qualify for a bowl game. The hype around Florida is still real heading into 2025, with analysts projecting them to have multiple primetime matchups. With that kind of exposure, one college football analyst is warning the Gators not to collapse under the pressure.

Analyst Josh Pate Sends Warning to Florida Over Tough Schedule

Florida’s schedule in 2025 is loaded with good opponents. The Gators’ SEC schedule alone is filled with some of the top programs in college football as they play LSU, Texas, Texas A&M, Georgia, Ole Miss, and Tennessee, all of whom finished 2024 ranked. Florida also has out-of-conference matchups with Miami and Florida State, only further adding to a tough schedule.

With so many great opponents combined with the hype around Florida themselves, college football analyst Josh Pate thinks that fans will be seeing Florida in primetime often in 2025.

“It doesn’t look like Florida is going to play a single noon game. So, if you want Florida in high-leverage positions from a scheduling standpoint, you got it. Now don’t go 4-8, alright. Some of us have you top ten in preseason rankings,” Pate said.

It’s a gauntlet for the Gators, but as Pate mentions, expectations are high for the Gators, including from Pate himself.

Numerous analysts are expecting a big leap from second-year quarterback DJ Lagway, who was the number one overall recruit in the 2024 recruiting class. Fans are excited to watch what Lagway can do, and it has led ESPN and whoever controls the SEC scheduling to highlight the Gators in primetime. A lot.

The problem with a schedule like this is that the Gators have not proved anything yet. Under head coach Billy Napier, Florida is only 16-21. So, as Pate warns, Florida better live up to the expectations or else they’ll be losing in front of huge audiences on a weekly basis.

In order to save themselves from embarrassment, Florida is going to have to make the leap that analysts are expecting them to. There’s no doubt the Gators can do it, as their roster is loaded with talent on both sides of the football, but a schedule like this only further adds to the pressure on Billy Napier to succeed in 2025.