Josh Pate puts Florida on ‘upset alert’ in Week 2 vs. South Florida
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Josh Pate has a few words of advice for No. 13 Florida as it gets ready to host South Florida in Week 2: Watch out.
The college football analyst and host of Josh Pate’s College Football Show believes that Billy Napier‘s team is on “upset alert” in Week 2 against the Bulls. Florida had it easy in Week 1, rolling to a 38-0 halftime lead at home against Long Island University and cruising to a 55-0 victory to get the 2025 season off to a positive start.
UF quarterback DJ Lagway shook off his latest injury, a strained left calf, and put in 1 half of work before giving way to Tramell Jones Jr. in the second half. Lagway and Jones combined to complete 27 of 36 passes, with 5 touchdown passes and 0 interceptions. But that was against Long Island. On Saturday, in the 4:15 p.m. ET kickoff on SEC Network, the Gators will be facing a South Florida team that’s unranked but also brimming with confidence after knocking off then-No. 25 Boise State, 34-7, in a Thursday night game in Tampa.
So, that means USF is 1-0, beat a ranked team in its opener and had a few extra days to dust itself off and get ready for the Gators, since the Bulls beat Boise State on Aug. 28, 2 days before Florida demolished Long Island in its opener. Then there’s the whole in-state angle, with Florida hosting a team from right down the road.
Pate is putting Florida on “upset alert” early in the 2025 season, even though UF is getting an 82.7% chance to win, according to ESPN’s FPI. Pate believes there’s a chance Florida takes its foot off the gas pedal, and by that he means that South Florida has a great chance to do a “back-door cover” on the spread. But he goes further than that.
“They just beat Boise, they’ve got a couple days of extra rest. Can USF win the game outright? There’s a path for that to happen, there’s a world where it happens. I do think that Florida is athletically a totally different caliber. But it would not shock me at all if late third quarter, your phone is getting blown up, you’re getting texts saying, ‘You see what’s happening here?'” explained Pate.
Right now, UF is a 17.5-point favorite, so the Gators aren’t a slight favorite, but they also aren’t an overwhelming favorite either. Pate’s point is clear — keep your eye out for the Bulls in this spot.
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.
