Florida lost to an Alex Golesh-led team in 2025, forcing it to fall out of the Associated Press Top 25 Poll. Now in 2026, the Gators have returned to the rankings after a 44-39 victory over Golesh’s Auburn Tigers.
UF came in at No. 21 in the Week 3 AP rankings, a six-spot rise from its season-opening No. 27 slot. Florida started the season strong with back-to-back blowouts over Florida Atlantic and Campbell.
Despite the pair of wins, Florida stayed put just two slots outside of the rankings. Its win Saturday night pushed the Gators over the edge into the rankings, boasting the program’s first 3-0 start to a season since 2019.
The five-point win at Jordan-Hare Stadium also accomplished multiple firsts for Jon Sumrall, who notched his first SEC win and road win of his Gators career. The victory was also Florida’s first at Auburn since a 32-14 win in 1999.
The Week 3 poll also brought a bevy of changes for the conference, with the SEC flexing its muscles with 10 ranked teams. Out of the double-digit ranked programs, UF sits eighth among them.
Texas still leads the way at the top slot, with No. 2 Georgia, No. 4 Ole Miss, No. 8 Alabama and No. 10 LSU rounding out the teams within the top 10. No. 14 Tennessee, No. 19 Missouri, Florida, No. 23 Texas A&M and No. 24 Mississippi State are the remaining schools within the short list.
The newest edition of the poll also adds intrigue to Florida’s next matchup. The Gators now gear up for their first home SEC battle with Ole Miss, which comes off a monumental 32-24 victory over its former coach Lane Kiffin and LSU. The No. 4 Rebels are the highest ranked team to enter The Swamp since top-ranked Alabama came to Gainesville in 2021.
“I love watching our other sports teams have success like they have at the University of Florida,” Sumrall said at SEC Media Days back in July. “We have to replicate that in football. We have to get it back to where it needs to be.”
Now, the Gators have tasted their first bit of that success under Sumrall by joining the rankings just three weeks into the season.
Coverage for the top-25 matchup between Ole Miss and Florida starts at 12:30 p.m. on WRUF 98.1-FM/850-AM/103.7 HD2.
