Steve Spurrier Predicts Gators Will Upset Tide in Week 3

Legendary former Florida head coach Steve Spurrier has made a bold prediction that Crimson Tide fans won't be too thrilled about with the season about to get underway.

During an appearance on 1010 XL's "Gators Roundtable", the "Head Ball Coach" said that he believes the Gators will defeat Alabama when they face off during week three of the 2021 season in Gainesville.

Since Spurrier and the South Carolina Gamecocks took down Alabama 35-21 in 2010, an SEC East opponent has not defeated the Crimson Tide.

In his tenures at Florida and South Carolina, Spurrier went 7-4 against Alabama, with six of the wins coming from his time at Florida before the arrival of Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa.

During their last matchup, Alabama had one of their biggest scares of the season in a 52-46 SEC Championship triumph over Heisman nominee Kyle Trask and the Gators.

Alabama has won the previous seven matchups against Florida with the last three all coming in SEC Championship matches. They have not played in the regular season since 2014 when Alabama won 42-21 in Bryant Denny Stadium. Alabama has not traveled to Gainesville since 2011, a trip that ended in another blowout for the Tide, this time by a score of 38-10.

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Florida will have a very different looking team both offensively and defensively from the squad that went toe to toe with the Tide in December. Most notably, new Gators quarterback Emory Jones, who has some large shoes to fill after the brilliant season Kyle Trask had in 2020.

In addition to this, Florida also lost key pass catching stars in Kyle Pitts and Kadarius Toney as well as multiple defensive starters from the 2020 team.

Headed into this season, Florida is ranked 13th in the country in the preseason AP poll and head coach Dan Mullen will certainly have a challenge ahead of him in getting them back to playoff contention in 2021.

Only time will tell whether or not Florida will be able to even compete with Alabama in week three, let alone pull off the upset. Crazier things have happened, but it will be quite the tall task for Mullen and the Gators to make coach Spurrier's prediction come true.