Florida posts epic hype video for Week 2 home matchup against South Florida
Published:
Florida blew out Long Island University in Week 1, as most expected the Gators to do. Billy Napier‘s team took a 38-0 halftime lead and cruised to a 55-0 victory over the Sharks at The Swamp to open the 2025 season.
DJ Lagway started what Florida fans hope is his major breakthrough season with a strong first half, going 15 of 18 for 120 yards with 3 touchdown passes and 0 interceptions. With the Gators up by 38 points and pitching a shutout, that was all the action Napier needed to see, as Lagway hit the bench after halftime in favor of Tramell Jones Jr.
So, the season opener amounted to a layup, to borrow a word that the defending national champion UF men’s basketball team might use. In Week 2, things are expected to get a lot harder, as No. 13 Florida hosts a foe from down the road with South Florida coming to Gainesville on Saturday. The in-state showdown will kick off at 4:15 p.m. ET on SEC Network, and even though ESPN’s FPI gives the Gators an 82.7% chance to win and get to 2-0, college football analyst Josh Pate is putting Florida on “upset alert” against the Bulls, who took down then-No. 25 Boise State in a Week 1 Thursday night stunner in Tampa.
ESPN’s SP+ has come out with its final score projection for the UF-USF game, which will be the 4th all-time meeting between the programs who are about 130 miles apart. Florida has won the first 3 meetings, and on Friday night Florida football’s social media account released an epic, 56-second hype video to help spur the Gators onto a 4th victory in 4 tries against South Florida.
Here is the video that is sure to get Gators fans pumped up for the matchup:
Florida will play road games against current top-5 teams LSU and Miami after this South Florida matchup, so getting to 2-0 will be vital for UF before the schedule gets much harder.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
