USAT's latest bowl projections reveal Florida's postseason outlook

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

After a long offseason, Week 1 of the college football season has already flown by, and the race for the College Football Playoffs has officially started. The first week of the season was more than enough for USA TODAY Sports to shift its projections for teams vying for postseason position, with some contenders looking shaky in their initial games and others looking dominant as ever.

Obviously, one week isn't the end-all, be-all, but it could indicate what could potentially come, and for the Florida Gators, their Week 1 performance was an offensive master class.

Their performance in their first game under Jon Sumrall was impressive enough to get a shakeup in the latest bowl projections. In USA TODAY Sports' latest bowl projections, the Gators are set to face the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Las Vegas Bowl.

Florida and Iowa have played each other four times prior, all taking place in the Sunshine State for a bowl game. In their four meetings, the Gators have come out on top three times, with the Gators prevailing, 30-3, in their most recent matchup in 2017.

Iowa's lone victory against Florida came in 2004, 37-17.

The previous three times these programs have met have been in the Outback Bowl, now known as the ReliaQuest Bowl; however, their very first encounter was in 1983's Gator Bowl.

As the season rolls on, the Gators should continue to rise in projections for more prominent bowl games — and potentially the College Football Playoffs — if they can secure some key victories.

Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.

This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: USAT's latest bowl projections reveal Florida's postseason outlook

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos