Scott Van Pelt chimed in during his weekly picks segment this week regarding the Saturday night collision in College Station between Florida and No. 5 Texas A&M.
The Gators and Aggies will kick things off at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN at a Kyle Field that’s sure to be rocking, because when isn’t it? Florida is 2-3 overall but feeling a lot better about itself than it was a week ago at this time, after knocking off Arch Manning and Texas at The Swamp. The Gators will try to do the same thing in Week 7 against another ranked team from the Lone Star State.
Texas A&M is 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the SEC and it has ascended all the way into the AP top 5 as we near mid-October. The Aggies are getting a lot of love from ESPN’s FPI indicator, which gives them a robust 74% chance to hold serve at home and get to 6-0.
But wait a minute, says Van Pelt. The Gators come into College Station with all that momentum, and Van Pelt took them against Texas last week.
Guess what? He’s taking Billy Napier‘s crew again, plus the 7.5 points on the road.
“We’re backing the Gators again … even staring into the madness of Kyle Field against the unbeaten Aggies,” Van Pelt said. “Just like Tom Petty and the folks in Gainesville, I won’t back down.”
Florida will be looking for some payback on Saturday night after Texas A&M won in Gainesville last September. The Aggies have won 3 of the past 4 meetings and own a slim 4-3 lead in the all-time series.
Here is SVP’s take on UF-Texas A&M and his entire pick segment:
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.
