College Football 26 Predicts Gators' 2025 Season

With EA Sports' College Football 26 releasing early on Monday to those who preordered the game, Florida Gators on SI took advantage and did a quick simulation of the Florida Gators' 2025 season. 

In just one simulation, things were ugly for the Gators with a 6-7 finish and bowl loss. The ugliest part about it was that every loss came by one score, with all seven losses being by a combined point total of 30 points or an average of 4.28 points.

Florida Gators on SI breaks down the simulation below with the game-by-game results at the end. EA Sports' College Football 26 will be released to the general public on Thursday.

Strong Start to the Year

The Gators started hot. They took the first three games of the season over FCS East (Long Island University was not in the game), USF and LSU. 

Their win over LSU was a nail-biter, taking down the Tigers in Death Valley 48-45 in overtime. Sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway was 27-for-38 with 285 passing yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He also had six carries for 26 yards. 

Stealing the show, though, was running back Ja’Kobi Jackson. Jackson had 24 carries for 103 yards and an astounding five touchdowns. 

Out wide, Eugene Wilson III had nine catches for 89 yards and Kahleil Jackson had five for 72 yards. Unfortunately, during this three-game winning streak, they lost star running back Jadan Baugh to a broken tailbone. 

Ugly End To the 2025 Campaign

From Week Four onwards, things started to fall apart for the Gators. It began with losses to Miami and Texas. They dropped both of the games by a combined nine points, losing to Miami 27-20 and Texas 23-21. 

Against Miami, they came out of the gates slow. They found themselves trailing 14-7 at the half but rallied to take a 17-14 lead going into the fourth. However, they stumbled once again, scoring just 3 points in the final frame to lose 27-20. 

Their slow beginnings continued into the next week, as well. Texas came out firing on all cylinders and jumping out to a 23-0 lead at halftime. Florida tried their hardest to rally, scoring 21 unanswered points and not allowing a single point in the second half, but it wasn’t enough. 

Florida rebounded with back-to-back wins over Texas A&M and Mississippi State but dropped five of their last six games. That includes losses to Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida State. 

The Gators did make the Armed Forces Bowl, facing off against Tulane for the second straight year. However, the script was flipped for 2025, dropping their final game of the 2025 campaign 31-25. 

Overall, it was a disastrous year on both sides of the ball in the sim. Florida's defense was ranked in the bottom half of the SEC, surrendering 29.2 points per game, 394.5 yards per game and only forcing 13 total turnovers. 

Despite their defense being this bad, though, it was the offense that was the Achilles heel for this team. 

Florida's offense only mustered up 5,316 total yards in 13 games, which was good for 13th in the SEC. Only Auburn, Missouri and Vanderbilt were worse.

Player Spotlight

Starting center Jake Slaughter had the best individual year from any Gator in the sim. He was the recipient of both the Outland Trophy and Rimington Trophy. He played in all 13 games and played 1,040 downs, allowing zero sacks. He also earned All-SEC First Team honors. 

It was still a great year for Lagway, who finished with 3,481 passing yards, a 29-to-11 touchdown-to-interceptions ratio and a 61% completion percentage. Additionally, Wilson III had a stellar year. He almost eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark, recording 975 receiving yards in 12 games.

Five-star receiver Dallas Wilson also had a solid debut in the orange and blue. He logged 29 receptions for 545 yards and six scores in just seven games played. 

The biggest surprise of the sim that was player-related was the production the Gators got from tight end Tony Livingston, who recorded 42 catches for 553 yards and four touchdowns. 

Joining Slaughter as a All-SEC first teamer was edge rusher Tyreak Sapp. He had 13 sacks, 43 tackles, 24 tackles-for-loss and one forced fumble. 

The only other player to make an All-SEC team was punter Tommy Doman, making the second team.

2025 Game-by-Game Results

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