Florida
› Last season: 10-4 (7-1 SEC)› Opener: Sept. 3 vs. UMass (7:30 p.m. on SEC Network)› Fun fact: Since the SEC implemented a championship game in 1992, Florida has won the most league titles (seven), followed by Alabama (six), LSU (four) and Auburn (three).› Coming Thursday: Georgia
SEC logoThe Florida Gators will enter the 2016 college football season as the reigning Southeastern Conference Eastern Division champions and having won 10 games a year ago.
They also come in on a three-game losing streak.
“We know we dropped a few games at the end of the year,” Gators fifth-year senior safety Marcus Maye said last week at SEC media days. “We weren’t sad or hanging our heads, but it was frustrating. It didn’t take the fun out of winning the East or going to Atlanta.”
Florida blended dominant performances (38-10 over Ole Miss and 27-3 over Georgia) with close calls (28-27 over Tennessee and 9-7 over Vanderbilt) under first-year coach Jim McElwain in winning 10 of its first 11 games. The Gators climbed to No. 8 nationally before plummeting when a lackluster 20-14 overtime escape of Florida Atlantic was followed by lopsided losses to Florida State (27-2), Alabama (29-15 in the SEC title game) and Michigan (41-7 in the Citrus Bowl).