Can you believe the hype surrounding the Florida Gators as we head into the 2009 college football season? Every program you turn on, every magazine you read, every talk show host you listen to will all tell you the same thing. The Florida Gators are unbeatable and will be BCS Champions. Mark Schlabach of ESPN said it best: “Should the SEC East even bother playing games this season?”

As a Gator fan myself, all this hype scares me. The Florida Gators dominated the Oklahoma Sooners in the BCS Championship game back in January. They are returning all 11 defensive starters and have the best college football player, Tim Tebow. So why does all this scare me? It is so hard for a football team in the NCAA to go wire-to-wire. The Florida Gators are ranked No. 1 in all the major preseason polls and rightfully so. But when everyone expects the world from you, it’s harder to deliver.

Odds are the Gators will lose one game. No Florida team has ever gone undefeated. Two games on the schedule that scare me are at LSU and vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville). Sure Tennessee, Arkansas and Florida State are all going to be tough games but the Gators play them in the Swamp, giving them a significant advantage.

I do predict that the Gators will be in the BCS Championships again, fighting for a chance to win back-to-back titles. But I won’t predict the outcome of the game… anything can happen in college football. What do you think of the Gators chances in 2009? Do you think all the No. 1 preseason rankings are justified?

Comment here or tweet me and let me know.