Best Ways to Bet on Florida: Can Gators Compete for SEC East title?

Philip Wood

Last Updated: August 19, 2022 4:48 AM EDT • 3 min 1 sec read. Twitter link Google News Link

Anthony Richardson of the Florida Gators celebrates after defeating the Florida State Seminoles 24-21 in a game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images via AFP.

The Florida Gators barely snuck into a bowl game in 2021, but with the hiring of Billy Napier, people are wondering if Florida could be a contender this year. Here are the best college football picks for Florida in 2022.

The Gators were a mess last year. They lost to the Alabama Crimson Tide by just two points in the third game of the year but then lost three in a row toward the end of the season, including a 40-17 drudging at the hands of South Carolina. That cost head coach Dan Mullen his job, but the Gators wasted no time in hiring Napier away from the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns.

While there is reason to be excited if you’re a Gators fan, the schedule for Florida is daunting this season. The Gators will face four teams in the preseason top 25, including three in the top 10. They could play as many as six or seven ranked teams throughout the season. Do they have the talent to compete at that level in Napier’s first season? The odds may not be in their favor.

We look at the best ways to bet on Florida in 2022; odds via DraftKings Sportsbook and PointsBet.

Best Bets for Florida in 2022

Under 7 wins (+105 via DraftKings)
Under 4.5 conference wins (-145 via DraftKings)
To win SEC East +1800 (via PointsBet)

2022 Predictions for Florida

Under 7 wins (+105)

Florida has some tough stretches on the schedule this season. The Gators open the campaign with home games against No. 7 Utah and No. 20 Kentucky. Yes, these games are at home, but they are against teams that, on paper, are better than the Gators. If they can sneak out a win in one of these games, then they will likely hit the Over on this line, but if they don’t, things could spiral quickly.

Games against South Florida, Eastern Washington, and Vanderbilt should be easy wins, but aside from that, it’s hard to find any guaranteed wins on this schedule. In Week 4, the Gators travel to Tennessee to take on the Volunteers, then they’re at a neutral site later in the season against No. 3 Georgia and on the road at No. 6 Texas A&M. The Gators will almost certainly be favored in home games against Missouri, LSU, and South Carolina. Then they play at Florida State against the Seminoles in the last game of the season.

It seems that, at most, Florida is getting seven wins. To get more, a lot will need to go right. To get fewer, things just have to go as expected.

Under 4.5 conference wins (-145)

The odds aren’t pretty for this bet, but that’s because there really isn’t much of a path for the Gators to win five games in the SEC. It seems a year too soon for them to knock off Texas A&M or Georgia, and a trip to Tennessee this season has a different meaning than it has in the past.

If they lose to the Volunteers, they’d have to win all of their SEC home games and beat Vanderbilt. Beating the Commodores is no problem, but the rest of that equation is no easy task. That would mean beating Kentucky, LSU, Missouri, and South Carolina. The Gators could do it, but it’s not the likeliest outcome.

Florida to win the SEC East (+1800)

Now, let’s pretend that everything stated before this is inaccurate. Napier has his guys ready to go from the jump, and no matter what the result is in Week 1 against Utah, Florida shows up and beats Kentucky in Week 2. Suddenly, the Week 4 trip to Tennessee becomes the defining moment of a young season. A win there, and the Gators are the only team that can dethrone Georgia and win the SEC East.

For what it’s worth, Florida is only +2 on the spread against Utah in Week 1, likely due to the state of the Pac-12. Yet, that could mean the Gators are actually favored against Kentucky the following week. While FanDuel Sportsbook and PointsBet both have Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee with a better chance to win the SEC East than the Gators, DraftKings is giving Florida the second-best odds, at just +1000.

Winning the East is a long shot for sure, but if the Gators can get through Week 4 with a 2-0 SEC record, they may have the confidence they need for the more difficult stretch of the schedule that appears later down the road. If Georgia has a National Championship hangover, then the East really is anyone’s division.

Where to Bet on College Football Futures

Here are our top-rated sportsbooks:

FanDuel Sportsbook
Caesars Sportsbook
DraftKings Sportsbook
PointsBet
BetMGM

SEE ALSO: All picks, odds, and sports betting news. Be sure to check out SportsbookReview.com’s community forums and betting tools.

Ways to bet on Florida picks made 8/18/2022 at 3:06 p.m. ET.

Written By:
Philip Wood

Phil is a Sports Betting Analyst for Sportsbook Review and BettingPros.com, specializing in NFL and college football. He previously covered college football and college basketball for CanesInsight.com, where he also hosted the College Football Pick 'Em podcast. Phil is always looking for value, especially on lines that just seem too good to be true. His belief is if a line doesn't make sense, just assume that Vegas knows something you don't. An alumnus of The U, Phil always holds out hope that the next head coach will be the one who turns the football program around. Some would call him a frontrunner for his love of the Yankees and the Celtics, but he's also a diehard Detroit Lions fan and will never forgive the refs for the blown pass interference call against the Cowboys in 2015.