Florida vs. Kentucky, Game Thread: Which way are the Gators going?

For the first time in a long time, I could see a Florida-Kentucky game (7:30 p.m., SEC Network or WatchESPN) going a lot of different ways.

Sure, I made some predictions, but I don't feel too confident in them. Will Grier could come out and ball out ... or he could struggle, and be replaced by Treon Harris. Florida's defense could look lights-out in its first game with all of its projected secondary starters on the field ... or the loss of Alex Anzalone and a pass-happy Kentucky attack could trouble the Gators. Kelvin Taylor could run like a man possessed after a tumultuous night against East Carolina ... or Florida's iffy run blocking could turn into a stumbling block against SEC defenders.

This is, in short, the first game against Kentucky that has felt like a turning point for Florida in many years.

Every year, of course, it's a potential turning point for Kentucky: "If this platoon of Wildcats can end The Streak," the thinking goes, "maybe it's the best Kentucky team we've had in a long, long while." But that thinking has been wishful for my entire lifetime and then some, with Florida handing Kentucky losses in each of the teams' last 28 meetings, many of them by lopsided margins.

If it's not wishful tonight? Florida will be headed into truly uncharted waters in Jim McElwain's first season at the helm of the Gators.

If it is? Florida steers into its SEC schedule having passed its first road test.