Florida Gators Lose Starting QB Franks for the Year; CFP Title Odds Now as Long as +6600

• Florida’s starting quarterback, Feleipe Franks, is out for the year with a dislocated ankle
• The injury caused sportsbooks to move the (still unbeaten) Gators’ National Title odds from +4000 to as long as +6600
• Is there any value betting Florida at this price?

The Florida Gators’ National Title hopes suffered a big blow Saturday night. Starting quarterback Feleipe Franks dislocated his ankle in the Gators come-from-behind win over Kentucky and will now miss the rest of the season.

Dang. If you missed the Feleipe Franks injury, this doesn’t look good. pic.twitter.com/JihmwmttIM

— Connor O’Gara (@cjogara) September 15, 2019

Sportsbooks were quick to react to Florida’s misfortune. The Gators’ National Championship odds were +4000, on average, prior to the Kentucky game. After the winning a tough conference road game, they fell to +6600.

2020 CFP National Championship Odds

*Odds taken on 09/15/19.

The Gators’ odds are now the longest they’ve been all calendar year, which makes sense given the difficulty of their schedule and the inexperience of Franks’ replacement.

Next Man Up

The Florida offense will now be run by junior Kyle Trask, who entered Saturday with just 27 collegiate pass attempts on his resume. He came to the Gators as a two-star recruit out of high school where he primarily served as the back-up to now Houston Cougars quarterback D’Eriq King.

Me watching Kyle Trask after Feleipe got injured pic.twitter.com/fEgXucszs0

— Cameron Magruder (@ScooterMagruder) September 15, 2019

Trask didn’t look anything like an inexperienced QB on Saturday however, erasing an 11-point deficit and leading the Gators to a third straight win in relief.

He’s battled Franks for the starting job in training camp for two straight seasons and head coach Dan Mullen stated that Trask and Franks split all the practice reps straight down the middle.

Still can’t get over this play from Kyle Trask. 99 level awareness to somehow pitch that to Perine. #Gators pic.twitter.com/EJpyYHo7b0

— Lucas Dolengowski (@LDolengowski) September 15, 2019

Trask’s familiarity with the offense was on display right away and Mullen seems optimistic that the drop off from Franks to Trask is minimal.  The problem is Florida has a treacherous schedule on deck, and it’s unlikely they were going to get through it unscathed regardless of quarterback health.

A Tough Road Ahead

Five of the Gators next six opponents are conference foes, including three teams ranked inside the top eight. Next up is a home date with Tennessee, but in three weeks they’ll kick off a four week stretch that includes matchups versus eighth ranked Auburn, fourth ranked LSU and third ranked Georgia.

Fans cheering Kyle Trask as he leaves Kroger Field – pic.twitter.com/xlpDIIiNpv

— Thomas Goldkamp (@ThomasGoldkamp) September 15, 2019

No one would have expected Franks to get through those three games undefeated, and the same can be said for Trask. The most winnable game appears to be against Auburn, who grades out as a less efficient team than Florida, but the Gators are severely overmatched against Georgia and LSU.

Fade Florida

The Gators are supposed to be the Bulldogs’ main competition in the SEC East and they still might be with Trask under centre. The problem is they were a tier below Georgia with Franks at QB and they remain that way now that Trask is running the show.

The Bulldogs are a far superior team on offense, defense and special teams, and if the Gators can’t get past them, they literally have no shot at making the College Football Playoff.