‘It’s Gone Forever’: Jon Sumrall Looks Past Auburn, Ahead to Ole Miss
Florida’s 44-39 win at Auburn on Saturday drummed up national attention around the Gators. The victory vaulted Florida’s high-powered offense inside the AP Top 25, with the Gators third in the nation in total offense at 544.3 yards per game.
Florida coach Jon Sumrall could not care less.
“Nobody posts anything up in the building about this year’s team because of where you’re ranked in Week 4” Sumrall said. “No one cares.”
The victory pushed Florida to 3-0 for the first time since 2019 and gave Sumrall his first road and SEC wins since helming the Gators. UF also continued its offensive onslaught with the 44-point output, upping the team’s total points to 162 through just three weeks. Although the positives stand out, Sumrall is not staying stuck on last week’s success.
“I’m great with everybody feeling good yesterday until about dinner,” Sumrall said. “At dinner yesterday, if anybody walked around the building feeling good about what happened last week, it’s going to be bad for them, because it’s over, it’s gone forever.”
Instead, all the focus is on the task ahead for the first-year coach’s band of Gators: taking on a familiar foe in Ole Miss. Between Florida’s recent tangles with the Rebels and Sumrall’s 41-10 loss to them last year in the College Football Playoff while leading Tulane, history surrounds the matchup.
Aside from the previous knowledge of each other, the matchup also provides intrigue as to where both teams stand heading into Week 4. No. 4 Ole Miss, which also sits at 3-0 after a monumental 32-24 victory over the Lane Kiffin-led No. 7 LSU, is the highest-ranked opponent to come to Gainesville since No. 1 Alabama in 2021.
A big reason for the Rebels being held in high regard is one of the nation’s top quarterbacks leading the way, as Trinidad Chambliss continues to shine. Chambliss has thrown for 200-plus yards and two touchdowns or more in every game this season, cementing himself firmly into Heisman Trophy candidacy for 2026. For the Gators and Sumrall, they will be sure to respect him as such on the field.
“They have the best quarterback in college football I think,” Sumrall said. “He’s as good of a college football player I’ve ever seen with my own two eyes.”
If No. 21 Florida aims for a ranked upset on Saturday, mistakes will need to be ironed out from the victory over Auburn. The Gators committed 16 penalties for 138 yards against Auburn, the most in all of FBS for Week 3. The total infractions from UF came in at just one less than the program record 17 penalties in 1996 against Vanderbilt.
Sumrall was upset in his postgame press conference about the costly miscues in the five-point win at Jordan-Hare Stadium. That trend persisted Monday, albeit much milder, with him finding the difference between which plays his team was actually guilty for.
“We were at fault for a good number of them. Not all of them were fully justified,” Sumrall said. “The only way I know if it’s really fixed is by our actions, but we are going to hold the guys to a high standard of accountability in regards to operating like a pro.
“I want our team to play with an edge.”
The dissatisfaction did not sit solely with Sumrall, as one of the offense’s emerging leaders in receiver Vernell Brown III also spoke to his disappointment with the penalties Monday. The sophomore said the Gators played “undisciplined football” and that “that’s not the standard” for Florida.
Brown contributed five receptions for 86 yards in the win over Auburn, losing out on a touchdown due to one of Florida’s numerous penalties in the process. Despite both his own and the team’s strong offensive showing that saw Florida rise six spots in the national rankings, all the attention is on improving this week to host Ole Miss.
“Obviously that’s good, but it doesn’t really matter,” Brown said. “It’s all external factors. We’re an internal focus team.”
The Gators get a chance to fix their shortcomings throughout the week before Saturday comes. Coverage between Ole Miss and Florida starts at 12:30 p.m. on WRUF 98.1-FM/850-AM/103.7 HD2. The bookmakers in Las Vegas have Florida favored for the top-25 matchup, much to the surprise of Sumrall.
“There’s a lot of good drugs out there, huh?” Sumrall said. “I didn’t even know the favorite deal, but whoever’s doing that, man, I don’t know. They haven’t watched tape.”
Category: Feature Sports News, Gator Sports, Gators Football
