Heading into the final push of the CFB season, the Texas Longhorns will host a mainstay in the SEC conference, the Florida Gators. With few meetings between the two teams, and none in the last 80 years, this will be a brand new environment for both schools.

Texas is an early favorite over the Gators, but a lot could be different for the two teams in the next three months. Regardless, our staff aimed to predict the score between these two CFB giants.

Florida is a tough nut to crack. Should DJ Lagway take over as the starter and perform the way many expect him to, they could be dangerous. Nevertheless, the Longhorns are clearly the better team. It’s not easy, but the Horns move to 8-1.

Texas 31
Florida 21

Florida will roll into Austin right after a grueling neutral-field matchup against Georgia in Jacksonville, and I expect the Gators to be worn out after three straight tough SEC games. Florida possesses a young and inexperienced defense and question marks all over the passing game, including who will start for the Gators come Nov. 9. Texas’ weapons on the offense will just be too much for Florida, and QBs Graham Mertz’ inability to work downfield and DJ Lagway’s inexperience will cost Florida this game.

Texas 51
Florida 21

Isa Almeida, Staff Writer

Florida didn’t have the best season in 2023. Going into 2024, the program will aim to improve that record and come out on top of newcomers Texas.

Texas might be new to the SEC, but with the home crowd and a solid team heading into the conference, it might be hard for the Gators to pull through.

Texas: 32
Florida: 14

Emma Hutchinson, Staff Writer

It’s a good thing that Texas isn’t playing Florida at “The Swamp,” otherwise my prediction might look a little different. However, the Gators are going through a lot of turmoil ahead of this season, including questions of how head coach Bill Napier will fare in potentially his last season with the team and who might take up the starting quarterback position. Florida is a fresh team, and despite having multiple newcomers looking to shake things up for the better, it’ll still be Texas on top at the end of the day. 

Texas: 40
Florida: 21

Quinn Ewers is going to eat up a very weak Florida secondary. This is the type of game that he needs to generate more hype.

Texas: 31
Florida: 10

A rehabilitated turtle was fitted with a satellite-tracking device and released from a Florida Keys beach on August 2, as part of the Tour de Turtles, an iniative which follows the long-distance migration of sea turtles over three months.

Footage released by the Florida Keys News Bureau shows workers from the Marathon-based Turtle Hospital releasing Roseleigh, a green sea turtle, into the ocean.

Roseleigh was named by her rescuers after being found floating off Islamorada in March 2024. She was treated by the Turtle Hospital for a severe case of fibropapillomatosis, a deadly tumor-causing disease that may be linked to pollution in the oceans and nearshore waters.

After a series of successful surgeries and treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics, fluids, vitamins and a healthy diet of greens and mixed seafood, Roseleigh is back in good health and is swimming strongly.

The event is organized annually by the Sea Turtle Conservancy to raise awareness about threats to the animals’ survival. Credit: Florida Keys News Bureau via Storyful

Video transcript

Oh, here they come.

Yes, I’m taking her almost to the water.

123.

Just stay beautiful, beautiful thing.

You gotta get me.

Come on.

Oh, I know very few.

Here we go.

No.

Ok, I get you.

There she goes.

It’s soft and it’s awesome.

What that?

Hi.

Ok.

There we are.

There she is.

Yep, this is all the grass.

I see what to do.

You guys saw the before picture right around the ps are so nice.

They hang out.

We, ah, just returned from Africa specifically to see Rosie released and now I’m going to cry is so, it’s so amazing.

We thought she was going to die when we dashed her to the turtle hospital and to see her now all recovered is just amazing.

The billionaire financier has pledged $12 million to oppose the measure, according to spokesman Zia Ahmed. The constitutional amendment will be decided by voters in November and needs at least 60% approval to pass.

In an opinion article published Friday in the Miami Herald, Griffin argued that the proposed amendment would create a monopoly for large marijuana dispensaries and allow cannabis use in public and private areas across Florida.

In addition to his anti-legalization efforts, Griffin is also contributing $8 million to committes funding Republican candidates running for the Florida legislature, Ahmed said.

The founder of Citadel and Citadel Securities, who relocated from Chicago to Miami in 2022, has been wielding his $42 billion fortune to influence Florida’s political landscape and to fund philanthropic causes.

Earlier this year, he condemned a proposed casino expansion in South Florida, likening it to “dumping toxic waste into the Everglades.” Legislators buried it soon after. Last year, he played a key role in watering down a proposal restricting real estate purchases by Chinese nationals, before it was enacted. In June, he gave $500,000 to back the reelection campaign of Miami-Dade County’s Democratic mayor, Daniella Levine Cava. 

“I have lived the nightmare of misguided politicians in other states whose policies are destroying jobs, fostering crime, ravaging schools, and damaging communities,” Griffin said in a statement to Bloomberg News. “I am committed to supporting policies and principles that will further elevate Florida as the greatest place to live, work, and raise a family in America.”

In the opinion piece, Griffin argued that legalizing recreational marijuana will primarily benefit special interests, while leading to more “dangerous roads, a higher risk of addiction among our youth, and an increase in crime.”

So far, more money has gone into Florida’s referendum on legalizing weed, known as Amendment 3, than any other ballot measure in the US this year, according to OpenSecrets, a non-partisan campaign finance group.

Safe & Smart, a political committee in support of legalization, has raised $66.7 million, according to Florida finance disclosures. 

A recent University of North Florida poll found 64% of Floridians support legalization. However, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who has received political contributions from Griffin, has voiced strong opposition, warning that legalization would lead to an increase in marijuana use similar to that in cities like San Francisco and Chicago.

“We cannot have every town smelling like marijuana. We cannot have every hotel, theme parks smelling,” DeSantis said in June. “It’s going to be everywhere.”