Florida Plummets Out of Top 10 in Week 5 AP Top 25 Poll
Florida’s momentum to start the 2026 season came to a jolting halt Saturday after a 45-17 loss at Missouri (4-1, 1-1 SEC). The Week 5 Associated Press Top 25 Poll reflected the result of the Gators’ offense going dormant by UF (4-1, 2-1 SEC) falling out of the top 10. The same can be said for Missouri, which rose 11 spots to No. 14 in the newest poll.
After reaching its highest ranking at No. 8 since the 2020 season last week, Florida quickly relinquished its spot among the top teams. The Gators fell to No. 16 in the most recent edition of the poll, representing an eight-spot drop from last week.
Florida also fell in the USA Today Coaches poll, dropping seven spots to No. 15.
The road loss continues an ugly trend, with Florida now losing four of its last five meetings at Missouri. It also breaks a poor run against ranked teams for the Tigers, who snap a nine-game losing streak against ranked teams.
One of the biggest shocks from the loss was Florida’s inability to run the ball amid a bevy of offensive struggles. Running back Jadan Baugh entered the contest with 600 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns, a total he was hoping to add to against Missouri.
Baugh was instead shut down all day, only notching 13 yards on 12 carries. The poor performance ends a streak of 100-plus rushing yards per game at five games for the junior runner.
“We did not execute well in the run, gave out a lot of different areas,” Florida coach Jon Sumrall said after his first loss at the helm of the Gators.
Florida’s loss is one of the lone shakeups for the SEC in regards to the AP Top 25 Poll, with the conference still owning nine spots in the latest rankings.
No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Georgia, No. 6 Alabama, No. 9 Ole Miss and No. 10 LSU are the league’s teams inside the top-10 after Florida crashed out of the shortlist. A packed group in the middling ranks, including No. 14 Missouri, No. 15 Tennessee, the No. 16 Gators and No. 17 Mississippi State, round out the conference’s teams in the poll
While Florida’s fiery start to year one of the Sumrall era was extinguished Saturday, the Gators still find themselves with four wins through five tries. UF is also still tied for fourth in the SEC standings and has a realistic route to the College Football Playoff depending on how the back half of the season goes.
“We’ve got a lot of improvement to do,” Sumrall said. “We’ve had a lot of work to do, it’s just been masked by winning some games.”
The Gators’ first chance to get right is a homecoming matchup when South Carolina (2-3, 0-3) comes to Gainesville on Saturday. Kickoff is at 12:45 p.m. on SEC Network, with coverage beginning at 8:45 p.m. on WRUF 98.1-FM/850-AM/103.7 HD2.
Category: Feature Sports News, Gator Sports, Gators Football
