Miami vs Florida Picks and Prediction – 8/31/2024

The Miami Hurricanes carry their number 19 overall ranking into Gainesville to start the new college football season against the Florida Gators. Miami comes into 2024 with high expectations after a 7 win year in 2023 after the Hurricanes dropped four of their last five including a 7 point loss to Rutgers in the Pinstripe Bowl. The Miami offense was a smoke show a year ago averaging nearly 31.5 points on well over 400 yards per game. Defensively Miami struggled immensely giving up 22.7 points on more than 300 yards per game overall and allowed more than 27 points across their final five in 2023. For more College Football action see our College Football Picks.

Miami will welcome Cameron Ward to the team this season after finding him in the transfer portal. Ward has already thrown for more than 13,000 yards in his career after a prolific showing at Washington State. The Hurricanes added several other offensive transfers to go with their new quarterback that should make things easy on a defense that's struggled immensely a year ago.

The Florida Gators open the 2024 season at home against a ranked opponent with one of the toughest schedules in the country to look forward to. Florida finished last season 2 games under .500 after dropping five in a row to close the year following a nine point loss at home against Florida State to end the season. Offensively Florida fared well averaging more than 28 points on nearly 400 yards per game in 2023. Defensively the Gators struggled immensely giving up 27.5 points on more than 360 yards overall and allowed 38.2 points per game during their five game losing streak to end the year.

Much like Miami the success for Florida will come at the hands of their quarterback. Graham Mertz will again be under Center for Florida after having a tremendous 20 touchdown season a year ago. Fortunately for Mertz he has a ton of weapons around him that should make 2024 much easier than the struggles of 2023. Defensively Florida will be better after there he meets struggles during the season and across the final five games of the year. The Gators have an abundance of talent on that side of the ball as well that should shine immediately in week one.

A battle of Florida to open the new year should lead to fireworks. Miami is a top ranked team and will look to defend that seeding. The Hurricanes are the better overall team and will do the work to get it done. Take Miami to pull off the win and cover against an instate rival. Final Score Prediction, Miami Hurricanes win and cover 31-20.