I’m guilty of it. You’re guilty of it. We’re all guilty of it.

We’re going to turn on the Week 0, Saturday night showdown between Florida and Miami and think we have everything figured out. No matter who wins, it’ll be Narrative City because there are storylines galore.

I mean, the micro and macro plots to this matchup are plentiful:

  • How does Florida respond after a roller-coaster offseason?
  • Can Manny Diaz turn Miami around immediately in Year 1?
  • Will Feleipe Franks make another step after emerging in Dan Mullen’s offense?
  • What’s next for Tate Martell?
  • Will Todd Grantham make good on that historically rich new contract?
  • Give Kadarius Toney more touches!

OK, so that last one was just Florida fans shouting at their TVs, but you get the picture.

With both programs, there is no shortage of storylines that have been discussed. With this matchup getting a chance to shine on the Week 0 stage — no offense to the CBS Sports Network game with Arizona and Hawaii — we will jump to all sorts of conclusions.

If Florida loses, it’ll be “the Gators’ bad offseason continues.” If Florida wins (and wins convincingly), it’ll be “the Gators are ready to take on Georgia.”

I’ve already gone on record multiple times saying that I fully anticipate what those postgame narratives will be.

I promise to do my best to not let Week 0 serve as some season-long barometer. That won’t be easy for me or for everyone who takes to Twitter to share their takes on the first weekend of the college football season. I realize that. Perhaps we should do some exercises to prepare.

I don’t have a chalkboard to write these things down, but if you do, feel free to follow my lead:

I will not tweet that Feleipe Franks is trash if he overthrows a receiver.

I will not tweet that Feleipe Franks is trash if he overthrows a receiver.

I will not tweet that Feleipe Franks is trash if he overthrows a receiver.

Why? It’s one throw from a guy who’s a career 57% passer who just put up the best season for a Florida quarterback since Tim Tebow.

Ok, here’s another one for the chalkboard:

I will not tweet about Tate Martell transferring with every Jarren Williams completion.

I will not tweet about Tate Martell transferring with every Jarren Williams completion.

I will not tweet about Tate Martell transferring with every Jarren Williams completion.

Oh no. I think I preemptively broke my own rule …

Henceforth, I will lay off the sweeping conclusions about Martell’s future.

Well, if he lines up at receiver and catches 8 passes for 100 yards and a touchdown, I might have a lukewarm take about Martell’s future at the quarterback position.

But my point is I don’t want to overreact either way to Saturday’s opener. Miami is coming off a 7-win season and it has a new coach and major turnover, especially on the defensive side. If Florida beats a team that went 4-4 in a down ACC last year, it won’t change my opinion of the strengths and weaknesses of Mullen’s team. It’d be a nice, season-opening win that perhaps says more about the power dynamic within the Sunshine State than anything else.

I won’t be putting Franks on my shortlist of Heisman Trophy candidates, nor will I be putting him behind Kyle Trask on the depth chart (last year I predicted that Trask would start every game of the 2018 season). There’s a middle ground.

We’ve seen it before with these big, neutral-site openers. We jump to conclusions only to realize a few weeks later that we might have gotten ahead of our skis.

Remember last year when Auburn beat Washington in Atlanta? After looking like a Week 1 Playoff contender, Auburn proceeded to go 3-5 in SEC play.

Remember 2017 when Michigan stomped Florida in Dallas? After looking like “it would finally be the year” with that statement win to start the season, the Wolverines limped to 8 wins and finished the season unranked.

Remember in 2016 when Texas beat No. 10 Notre Dame in that double-overtime thriller on a Sunday night in Week 1? After getting the “Texas is back” narrative fired up, Texas missed the postseason and Charlie Strong was fired after a 5-win season.

We overreact to openers every single year. Why? We spent the last 8 months breaking down everything we thought we knew about a team, and on a big stage, we see those things confirmed or denied. It’s simple.

I think this is especially important to remember for a team like Florida, which had an extremely successful 2018 season but showed many faces. I remember watching Kentucky roll into The Swamp and thinking, “this rebuild is going to take longer than I realized,” and I was there a few weeks later to witness Florida knock off unbeaten LSU, which prompted my thought that “The Swamp is back.”

Florida might be more consistent in 2019, but try not to get carried away when everything about this game — the renewed rivalry, the eventful offseasons, the Week 0 kickoff — lends itself to that. Resist the urge.

Fill up that chalkboard and tweet responsibly.