I think it's mainly about firing the coach at a low point.
If UF beats us, UK, Ole Miss, UT, and FSU, they'll be 7-5 and will have finished the season going 1-1 against top 10 teams, possibly 2-1 depending on how UT does going forward. I don't think that would happen but there's really not anybody in that stretch that has been super impressive, even with their rankings. If he's 7-5 and 3 of his losses are against teams that were ranked in the top 5 at the time they played, there could be some factions that say he has turned it around and deserves next year. Fire him at 3-4 in year 4 when his best year involved going 7-5 in teh regular season, I don't think anybody is going to be complaining.
It also gives them plenty of time to work agents for available coaches. Not sure how big of an advantage that is. I think doing it with three weeks to go is probably a big advantage over somebody waiting until the end of the regular season, but unless you are going to convince a sitting head coach to sign a contract mid season (or unless you have a target that's not a sitting head coach), I'm not sure doing it another 3 or 4 weeks earlier adds much.
