ESPN SP+ Computer Model Predicts Major Week 1 College Football Upset

The Week 1 college football slate is filled with marquee matchups galore to kick off what could be one of the most eventful seasons ever.

One of the games set to take place on Saturday, August 31, is a meeting between in-state foes. No. 19 Miami will be heading over to Gainesville to take on Florida in a meeting that oddsmakers favor the Hurricanes in, but one that ESPN's SP+ leans the other direction.

ESPN's Bill Connelly, who created the SP+ in 2008, released the model's predictions for every Week 1 game, and the Gators beating the Hurricanes stood out as a major upset. According to Connelly, the model projects that the Gators will win in a close one, as Connelly revealed that the projected final score is 30.1-29.8.

The model also projected the margin of victory to be a narrow 0.3, which means that it is clearly expecting this to be an extremely tight game.

This would be a huge win for Florida head coach Billy Napier, who is likely on the hottest seat in all of college football after posting an 11-14 record in his first two years in Gainesville.

As for Miami, this is supposed to be the season in which the sleeping giant program returns to glory, so a Week 1 loss to a middle-of-the-pack SEC team would undoubtedly be a blow to the gut.

The two teams haven't faced off since 2019, which saw the Gators win a close one in Orlando by a score of 24-20 to open up the season.

Saturday's meeting is set to kick off at 3:30 ET and will air on ABC.

Related: ESPN SP+ Computer Model Predicts Outcome Of Every Week 1 College Football Game