Florida’s Struggles Amplified by Drop in Week 6 AP Top 25 Poll
Florida rose to No. 8 in the Week 4 AP Top 25 Poll after a 52-28 win over Ole Miss in The Swamp, catapulting the Gators into College Football Playoff conversations. Two weeks later, the buzz around Florida has died and the Gators’ stay in the AP Top 25 Poll has concluded.
The Gators (4-2, 2-2 SEC) dropped from their No. 16 ranking to the outskirts of the poll following Saturday’s 38-19 loss to South Carolina (3-3, 1-3 SEC). Florida also fell out of the USA Today Coaches Poll after being ranked at No. 15 the week prior.
The Gators received nine votes in the Week 6 edition of the poll, pushing Florida seven spots outside the top 25. Back-to-back losses to Missouri and South Carolina have seen Florida fall 24 spots, marking a meteoric rise and drastic fall under first-year coach Jon Sumrall.
“Sometimes when you’re winning, it masks the things that are not going right or that you’re not doing well,” Sumrall said postgame on the Gators’ shortcomings. “We’re the same football team. We haven’t gotten better and improved in certain areas to maybe offset our weaknesses.”
While some of the aspects Sumrall mentioned have been clouded by the four-win start to the season, one shortcoming over the past two weeks has come as a shock. Florida’s offense, helmed by offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, has been stagnant in the pair of losses. The Gators opened the season with 214 points in their first four games, but have only tacked on 36 points since then.
Sumrall’s team is one of the multiple SEC programs to drop in the Week 6 AP Top 25 Poll after a slew of surprising results. The conference saw a massive shake up, specifically among its own teams in the top-10, changing the league’s landscape heading into the back half of the regular season.
The SEC is still represented by nine ranked teams, with Florida being the lone member to fall out entirely. No. 1 Georgia, No. 6 Alabama, No. 7 Texas and No. 9 Ole Miss are the league’s teams still within the 10-team shortlist atop college football. No. 13 Missouri, No. 14 Tennessee, No. 15 Kentucky, No. 16 Mississippi State and No. 22 LSU cap off the SEC’s teams inside the poll, with the middle of both the rankings and SEC standings bunched together.
Florida’s disappointing results across the past two Saturdays have all but shot down hopes of reaching the College Football Playoff, especially with the stretch ahead. The Gators now prepare for a trip to Austin, Texas, for a road date with No. 7 Texas, which comes into the game looking to rebound after a 27-24 loss to unranked Oklahoma.
Florida’s only bye week separates that matchup from a neutral-site tilt in Atlanta with top-ranked Georgia on Oct. 31. The Gators will need to dig deep to pull off either of the top-10 upsets and get their season back on track.
Kickoff between the Gators and the Longhorns is set for 12 p.m. on ABC, with coverage beginning at 9 a.m. on WRUF 98.1-FM/850-AM/103.7 HD2.
Category: Feature Sports News, Gator Sports, Gators Football
