Joel Klatt breaks down chances, path for Florida run to College Football Playoff

It’s been a difficult first half of the season for the Florida Gators. Amid a three-game losing streak, head coach Billy Napier has heard hot seat rumors grow around him. That, of course, made the upset win over Texas that much more emotional.

That loss may have done more for Florida than give them an emotional boost, though. It also may have kept them in the College Football Playoff race.

For a team that’s been as maligned as Florida has, that may seem like a stretch. However, as analyst Joel Klatt explained on The Joel Klatt Show, there may still be a path for the Gators to the Playoff. They just need to be perfect moving forward against a very difficult schedule.

“They only have one SEC loss,” Joel Klatt said. “If they play their best, we could see a path to the CFP. Now, their schedule is really, really difficult. So, let’s take a look at some of their most difficult games. I know they’re sitting on three losses, but they’re gonna go at [Texas] A&M. That’s coming up this weekend. They’ve got Mississippi State. Then, they’ve got Georgia, which is not gonna be easy. At Ole Miss, not easy. Host Tennessee. Host Florida State. Those games are not easy games.”

One of the keys for Klatt is that only one of Florida’s three losses is against an SEC opponent. The other two were non-conference games. That means that they’re very much alive in the SEC Championship race. Get there and win it, and Florida is in. Even without winning it, the schedule is so difficult that going unbeaten in the regular season presents an impressive resume.

“However, I would say this, and this is the only three loss team in America that I would say this about. They have enough left on their schedule where, if they could win out — huge if. Huge if because of the lack of consistency, but if they win out, I think they would be in Atlanta. If they’re in Atlanta, and if they have wins over some of these really quality teams that we’ve seen during the course of the year,” Klatt said. “They’re probably in the Playoff, even at 9-3. Now, if they lose that game in Atlanta and go 9-4, that’s another scenario.”

Ultimately, it’s still a longshot. Klatt isn’t predicting that Florida makes the Playoff or even fully turns the season around. Instead, Florida has proven it has plenty of talent, and if it lives up to that consistently still has a path.

“But this is the only team that I could see making an argument for at 9-3. Even if they went 9-3 and didn’t make it to Atlanta for some reason, some tiebreaker reason, it’s just one thing to look out for.”