Vanderbilt football vs Florida Gators: Score prediction, scouting report in Week 6 SEC game
Vanderbilt football heads to Gainesville to play the Florida Gators banged up and riding a four-game losing streak.
The season has spiraled for the Commodores since losing back-to-back non-conference games against UNLV and Wake Forest. Vanderbilt (2-4, 0-2 SEC) also lost its first two SEC games against Kentucky and Missouri, leaving it with few winnable games on the schedule. The Gators (3-2, 1-1) surprisingly beat Tennessee at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium but were blown out by Kentucky.
The Commodores lost, 38-21, to Missouri as Ken Seals made the start in place of AJ Swann.
Here's our score prediction for the matchup:
Vanderbilt football injury situation
Vanderbilt's still in a tough spot with injuries, though it has improved slightly from the past few games. The most significant new injury is that linebacker Kane Patterson is out after getting injured against Missouri. He will be replaced by some combination of Bryan Longwell, Nick Rinaldi and Bryce Cowan.
Wide receiver London Humphreys, cornerback BJ Anderson, offensive lineman Grayson Morgan and safety Jaylen Mahoney are all questionable. Coach Clark Lea said Thursday that there were no new injury updates.
Florida has been dealing with injuries as well. Most notably, star running back Trevor Etienne and center Kingsley Eguakun are questionable for the weekend.
Who will be Vanderbilt quarterback vs Florida?
Lea said Tuesday that AJ Swann was probable to be available for the Florida game, but he would not tip his hand as to which quarterback would start.
Seals started against Florida at the Swamp in 2021, his penultimate start of that season as he suffered an injury during that game and missed a month. It was one of his worst performances of the season as he completed 51% of his passes for 192 yards and two interceptions. He performed much better in a home game against Florida in 2020, when he was 22-for-34 for 319 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
Neither Seals nor Swann played in Vanderbilt's win over Florida last season.
REDSHIRT TRACKER Vanderbilt football redshirt tracker: Which freshmen have played in more than four games?
Can Vanderbilt run game get going vs Florida?
Florida has struggled with its rushing defense, notably allowing Kentucky's Ray Davis to run for 280 yards last week one game after Vanderbilt held the former Commodores running back under 100 yards.
But the Commodores have one of the worst rushing offenses in the SEC, ranking ahead of only South Carolina in rushing yards per game and ahead of South Carolina and Arkansas in yards per rush.
Without some semblance of a run game, Vanderbilt will likely struggle to put up points on the Gators, who are better at defending the pass than they are the run.
Vanderbilt score prediction vs Florida
Florida 34, Vanderbilt 24: Although Florida has had its inconsistencies this season, Vanderbilt is not built to take advantage of the Gators' biggest weakness defensively.
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.
Get the latest news and insight on SEC football by subscribing to the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt score prediction vs Florida: College football Week 6
