Florida Gators vs. USF Bulls: How to watch, channel, streaming

Following their 55-0 blowout win last week over LIU, the Florida Gators not only have the No. 13 ranking in the AP Top 25, but they own a five-game winning steak dating back to last season that is tied for the longest nationally. Pushing that to six straight might not be easy.

Next up for UF is a USF Bulls team coming to The Swamp on Saturday with momentum of its own after posting a 34-7 upset win at home over then-No. 25 Boise State.

“Got a really good South Florida team coming in Saturday afternoon,” Gators coach Billy Napier said this week. “A ton of respect for Coach [Alex] Golesh, and you can see the program continue to improve each year since he’s been there. Obviously they played one of their better games, played really complimentary football and beat Boise, who’s a former playoff team and has a lot of veteran players coming back. So they present a number of challenges in all three parts of the game.”

Here are some of the things we’ll be watching Saturday:

—Will sophomore UF quarterback DJ Lagway, who improved to 7-1 as a starter last week, take another step forward? In Florida’s win over LIU, Lagway, who dealt with multiple injuries during the offseason, completed 15 of 18 passes for 120 yards and three touchdowns, while avoiding turnovers. Lagway had some rust early, but progressively got better in his one half of action.

—How well can the Gators contain USF quarterback Byrum Brown? Brown, a 6-foot-3 senior from Raleigh, N.C., is a true dual-threat quarterback who has started 21 games for USF. He has thrown for 4,742 yards and 33 touchdowns in his career, while also rushing for 1,300 yards and 19 scores on 4.1 yards per carry. He was 16 of 24 vs. Boise State for 210 yards. He added 43 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries. In all, he was responsible for 68 percent of USF’s total offense in the win.

Meanwhile, UF allowed just two first downs to LIU.

—Will Lagway get better protection in the passing game than a week ago and will the offense in general be more in sync?

—Which injured players who missed the UF-LIU game will return Saturday? Several Gators were out for the opener, most notably defensive end Caleb Banks (foot) and linebacker Grayson Howard (ankle). EDGE  LJ McCray (lower body) and receivers Aidan Mizell (lower body), Dallas Wilson (foot) and Kahleil Jackson (knee) are among the others who also missed the game. It’s unclear when they will return.

Game 2 is almost here. And for UF, it begins what figures to be a challenging stretch of matchups.

How to watch the Florida Gators vs the USF Bulls

Date: Sat. Sept. 6
Time: 4:15 p.m. ET
Location: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (88,548), Gainesville, Florida
TV: SEC Network
Stream: Cox 68/1068 [HD], DirecTV 611 [HD]
Radio: SiriusXM Channel: 160 / 190

On The Call — SEC Network

Play-by-Play: Dave Neal
Analyst: Fozzy Whittaker
Reporter: Morgan Uber

On The Call — Gator Sports Network from LEARFIELD

Play-by-Play: Sean Kelley
Analyst: Shane Matthews
Reporter: Tate Casey

Betting Lines

BetMGM, On3’s official partner, lists UF as a 17.5-point favorite. The over/under is 56.5 (-110). The money line is -900 for the Gators and +600 for USF.

Florida-USF Game Notes

—Florida is playing host to USF for only the third time in school history, and it is their fourth-ever meeting. The Gators are 3-0 in the series, and 2-0 when playing at The Swamp. The last meeting came in 2022, and was Napier’s second win as UF’s coach. It was close as the Gators won just 31–28 after USF let one slip away.

—–The Gators are the only FBS team that has yet to commit a penalty entering Week 2. When Florida did not commit a single penalty last Saturday, it was only the second occasion that has happened for a Gators team—ever. The last time: In a 49-42 loss to LSU in 2021.

—In Lagway’s eight starts for Florida, UF has outscored opponents 35.4-11.0. He’s now thrown a TD pass in six straight games.

—During UF’s five-game winning streak, the Gators have recored 45 tackles for loss. Meanwhile, Florida has held opponents to 17 points or less in five-straight games.

—Over that winning streak, UF has outscored opponents by an average of 23.6 points a game.

—The Gators haven’t allowed 20 points or more points to an opponent since last Nov. 9 [Texas, 49 points].

—Lagway’s 194.3 rating in Week 1 vs. LIU was the second-highest rating of his career. It’s also the fourth-best rating of any UF quarterback under Napier. That was the seventh straight game Lagway has posted a QB rating over 134.0, and the seventh time that he’s secured a 150.0-plus rating. His Week 1 quarterback rating ranks 17th in the FBS and third in the SEC. Meanwhile, his 83.3 percent completion percentage is tied for fifth in the FBS and leads the SEC. Lagway also ranks fifth in FBS and second in the SEC in touchdown percentage at 16.7 percent.

—Center Jake Slaughter (91.5 Pro Football Focus grade) and tackle Austin Barber (91.3) are coming off strong games. The two senior linemen were Florida’s highest-graded offensive players in Week 1. Barber’s 91.3 overall grade and 90.3 run blocking grade each ranked second among all FBS offensive tackles. Slaughter’s grade tops FBS centers. He also owns the best run blocking grade (90.2) among FBS centers through Week 1, per PFF.

—USF held Boise State to 6 of 17 on third down and 2 of 6 on fourth down last week.