{"id":46792,"date":"2025-11-14T18:59:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T18:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/46792\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T18:59:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T18:59:09","slug":"florida-college-teams-face-make-or-break-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/46792\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida college teams face make-or-break weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

With three Saturdays left in the regular season, college football teams in the state of Florida have plenty to play for. Here\u2019s a list of the stakes for this weekend:<\/p>\n

USF at Navy (noon ET, ESPN2)<\/p>\n

If USF can win out, the Bulls could be in line for a spot in the College Football Playoff as the top-ranked team outside of the Power 4 conferences. After facing Navy, USF travels to Alabama-Birmingham next Saturday before finishing up the regular season at home against Rice on November 29.<\/p>\n

After that, it\u2019s the American Athletic Conference football championship game on December 5<\/a>, which could be played in Tampa if USF has the highest conference winning percentage at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Currently, USF is one of five teams with one conference loss. Navy is one of the five as well, so Saturday\u2019s game will play a substantial role in who plays for and hosts the conference title game.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

UCF at #8 Texas Tech (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX)<\/p>\n

While UCF is not in the playoff mix, the Knights\u2019 opponents on Saturday are very much in the mix. Texas Tech is ranked No. 8<\/a> this week and is on pace to represent the Big 12 in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

The Knights have won only one conference game this season and have only one victory since starting the season with three straight wins. UCF will also face a playoff contender in its final regular-season game when it travels to BYU.<\/p>\n

\u00a0NC State at #18 Miami (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes must win to stay in the hunt for the College Football Playoff (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Hurricanes handled Syracuse 38-10 last week, leaving three games remaining on the regular season schedule.<\/p>\n

Miami (7-2) must win out to have a chance to play for the national title<\/a>. With five teams in the conference with one loss, it is unlikely that Miami will play in the conference championship game, so the team\u2019s best bet is to earn an at-large berth into the field of 12.<\/p>\n

FAU at Tulane (4 p.m. ET, ESPN+)<\/p>\n

FAU finds itself as the homecoming opponent at Tulane. The Green Wave has lost only once in conference play and has a chance to make the American Athletic Conference championship game.<\/p>\n

The Owls (4-5, 3-3 in AAC) can become bowl eligible with two more wins. After facing Tulane, FAU is scheduled to host Connecticut and East Carolina to finish the regular season.<\/p>\n

Liberty at FIU (5 p.m., ESPN+)<\/p>\n

The Panthers (4-5, 2-3 in CUSA) can also become bowl eligible with two more wins. Jacksonville State and Sam Houston remain on the schedule after Saturday\u2019s matchup with Liberty.<\/p>\n

Florida at #6 Ole Miss (7 p.m. ET, ESPN)<\/p>\n

Where to begin with the Gators? A season that saw head coach Billy Napier shown the door and starting quarterback DJ Lagway benched last week rolls into Oxford, Miss. To face one of the top teams in the country on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Lagway will be back under center to start the game. Despite recent praise, don\u2019t be surprised if interim coach Billy Gonzales has him on a short leash<\/a>. Freshman Trammell Jones replaced Lagway at halftime of last week\u2019s loss to Kentucky after Lagway was intercepted three times. Jones didn\u2019t have a great second half, but the precedent has been set.<\/p>\n

To become bowl-eligible, Florida would have to win out, including beating ranked teams Ole Miss and Tennessee and then the annual rivalry game with Florida State.<\/p>\n

Virginia Tech at Florida State (7:30 p.m. ET, ACC Network)<\/p>\n

Speaking of the Seminoles, despite losing five of the last six games, FSU can still earn a spot in a bowl game. Florida State (4-5, 1-5 ACC) travels to Blacksburg, Virginia. This weekend, they face the Hokies, who have lost three of the last four games.<\/p>\n

Bowl eligibility aside, Florida State head coach Mike Norvell may be coaching for his job. A loss this weekend means the Noles cannot have a winning record, which might be the final straw for Norvell\u2019s tenure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With three Saturdays left in the regular season, college football teams in the state of Florida have plenty…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[143,30528,4679,28,2530,30,29,3731,5079,3865,19211],"class_list":{"0":"post-46792","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-college-football","9":"tag-fau-owls","10":"tag-fiu-panthers","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-florida-gators","13":"tag-florida-headlines","14":"tag-florida-news","15":"tag-florida-state-seminoles","16":"tag-miami-hurricanes","17":"tag-ucf-knights","18":"tag-usf-bulls"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}