Everybody pointing at the SEC preview and saying Florida's defense is a question mark because of the turnover margin last season is reading the wrong stat. The Gators finished with a top-25 SP+ defense despite being -8 in turnover margin. That is actually insane when you think about it. Most defenses that give the ball away that many times get absolutely gashed because they are constantly defending short fields. Florida held up anyway.
The real story nobody is talking about is what this staff is doing with the front seven this spring. The defensive line generated havoc at a rate that ranked top 30 nationally last season despite losing multiple starters to the NFL. And the scheme adjustments they made in the second half of the year were obvious if you watched the tape. The blitz packages got more creative, the stunts were timed better, and the linebackers were filling gaps instead of guessing.
People want to act like losing the quarterback to the portal means the whole program is taking a step back. But the defense returns more production than any unit on the roster outside of the offensive line. The secondary specifically has length and ball skills that this league has not seen from Florida in years. The Gators had one of the highest contested catch rates in the SEC last season and that was with a pass rush that was inconsistent.
If the front seven takes the jump that the spring practice reports suggest, this defense could easily be top 15 nationally in EPA per play allowed. The pieces are there. The scheme fits the personnel. And the coaching staff has finally stopped trying to force players into systems that do not match their skill sets. Florida is gonna surprise people who only look at the win-loss record from last year and assume nothing changed.