Tomas Verde is a journalism student at the University of Florida and proprietor of 4th and Fail.

I may sound crazy for saying this, but here it goes: Florida is on upset alert Saturday night in Starkville against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. shiver. Honestly, I hope I’m wrong and it’s a blowout, considering Florida is a 22.5-point favorite, but there are plenty of reasons to be apprehensive.

For starters, Florida hasn’t won a game in Starkville since 1985 when they came away with a 36-22 victory. Since then, the Gators have gone winless at Mississippi State. That stretch includes some monumental losses, like the 31-38 failure that finally got Ron Zook axed. However, to these Gators streaks don’t mean anything, right? After all, Florida nonchalantly brushed away LSU on Saturday night earlier this season.

the bells, stop the bells

Past failure is hardly the only cause for concern for Florida. The Gators are coming off of a physically draining game against Arkansas, which wound up being too close for comfort, especially for me. Also, there’s got to be some distraction and looking ahead to their annual matchup against the other Bulldogs next week in Jacksonville.

The Gators are still undefeated, but not invincible. They aren’t that juggernaut ripping through teams with reckless abandon like many (everyone) expected heading into the year. Much of it has to do with the turnover at offensive coordinator. The new guy calling plays, Steve Addazio, was formerly the offensive line coach so his focus is on dominating the play in the trenches and establishing a running game. That’s a big reason why Florida’s passing game hasn’t put up gaudy numbers (that, and the loss of Percy Harvin). Florida’s former offensive coordinator just so happens to be walking the sidelines in Starkville now. Got intrigue?  Who’s more qualified to stop Florida’s offense than the man responsible for running it during the first four years of Urban Meyer’s regime in Gainesville? Right?

Really, I hope I’m over-thinking this. A game between the defending national champs and a 2-4 team (but certainly better than the record indicates) should be in the bag. But something doesn’t feel right about this game, at least when you take all of the aforementioned thoughts into consideration. So beware of the Bulldogs, Gators, and not just the ones from Athens.