Even on a bye week, things are continuing to look up for Florida. Although the Gators (5-2, 3-2 SEC) left Week 8 without a result due to the open spot in their schedule, they did move up in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll on Sunday.
Florida jumped three spots from No. 20 in Week 7, advancing to No. 17 in the rankings without playing a game and thanks to other teams losing. The Gators also moved up from No. 24 in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll, rising four positions into the No. 20 slot.
The positive moves come after Florida coach Jon Sumrall and his team got their first and only break of the season with the bye week. The Gators entered the week-long pause on a high note after their 27-24 win against then-No. 7 Texas, a momentum boost that vaulted UF back into the rankings after falling out the week prior. Then came the hiatus from constant preparation, providing Sumrall with the opportunity to evaluate Florida’s performance throughout the first half of the regular season.
“I love the bye week because you get to take a deep dive into where are we playing well, where are we not?” Sumrall said after the win against the Longhorns. “We evaluate everything that’s going right and wrong, and I expect everybody to take ownership of it so we can move forward through the rest of the year.”
Florida returns to play next week into a chaotic landscape in college football after another week full of shocks. Just a week removed from five of the top-seven teams losing, the most in the AP Poll era to lose in the same weekend, three more top-10 teams were stunned this week. Among them was formerly-No. 7 Ole Miss, one of the nine SEC teams that were shaken up in the newest poll.
No. 3 Georgia is the highest-ranked team in the conference, with No. 9 Kentucky and No. 10 Alabama also featured among the top-10 teams. The remaining SEC teams are much tighter than that top-10 trio, with No. 11 Texas, No. 12 Ole Miss, No. 15 LSU, No. 16 Tennessee, the 17th-ranked Gators and No. 23 Missouri trailing behind.
Miami (7-0) remains the No. 1 team in the poll.
Florida has already improved on its 2025 record, boasting five wins through the first seven games of the Sumrall era in Gainesville. The Gators look to notch another accomplishment and become bowl eligible, aiming for their first win against Georgia since 2020.
Kickoff between the Gators and Bulldogs (6-1, 4-1) from the Invesco QQQ Atlanta Gridiron Classic at Mercedes-Benz Stadium is set for 3:30 p.m. Saturday on ABC. Georgia is a 10.5-point favorite on most major sportsbooks.
