WEB EXCLUSIVE

Since the new season has started, both college and professional Florida football teams have been experiencing bad luck and falling short of expectations. These teams under recent judgement include the Jaguars, Buccaneers, Dolphins, UCF Knights, and FSU Seminoles. Whether it was because of an injured player or a rookie quarterback not living up to his hype, fans all over the state were let down. 

Even though the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been playing a decent season with a win/loss record of 2-1, their game against the LA Rams didn’t end well for the team. The defending Super Bowl champions were beat 34-24 by the LA Rams and their newly acquired quarterback Matthew Stafford. Although players like Tom Brady and Giovani Bernard put up a good fight, it didn’t end up paying off for them by the end of the fourth quarter. 

The rest of the Buccaneers’ season may still have hope, but the same could not be said for the Miami Dolphins and Jacksonville Jaguars. After a promising preseason and opening week victory by the Dolphins, the following two games against the Bills and Raiders both resulted in losses. This was due to the fact their quarterback Tua Tagovailoa broke his ribs early in the second game against the Bills. 

Up in Jacksonville, Jaguar fans were somewhat optimistic heading into the season. With the new quarterback Trevor Lawrence being the number one draft pick and head coach Urban Meyer being an influential figure in the college football world, they were expected to make a positive impact on the team. Opening the regular season with three straight losses, the Jaguar’s performance did not live up to fan predictions. Evidently, head coach Urban Meyer’s past successful college coaching strategies did not seem to do as well in the NFL. 

Heading over to the world of college football, the UCF Knights had a positive start to their season with two straight wins against Boise State and Bethune-Cookman. In addition, the UCF football program reached a major milestone by being invited into the Big 12, a Power Five conference. However, their third game was a 42-35 loss against the University of Louisville. This loss was made even worse for UCF fans when their quarterback, Dillion Gabriel, broke his collarbone in the last play of the game, a potentially season-ending injury. 

Saving the worst fail for last, the FSU Seminoles started the season with four straight losses. Their best game was the opener, a near upset of the 9th-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Any momentum the Seminoles had was gone when they lost their next game to Jacksonville State, a non-Power Five school, followed up by two losses to ACC opponents. 

Although, the first month of the season may be over, these Florida teams still have a good amount of time to turn their seasons around.