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The Florida Gators suffered a massive letdown this past weekend when their College Football Playoff hopes were deflated by the LSU Tigers, who beat UF on its own home turf, 37-34. Predictably, the national sports media has not taken the loss lightly.
ESPN published its Power Rankings for college football’s Week 15 in which the Gators fell out of the top 10 and into the middle of the top-25 field. Now carrying an 8-2 record heading into the Southeastern Conference Championship Game, senior writer Chris Lowe puts the Gators at No. 14 — sandwiched between the No. 13 Northwestern Wildcats and No. 15 Oklahoma Sooners.
Here are the full details from Lowe.
14. Florida Gators (8-2)
The fog set in Saturday night in the Swamp, and the Gators were left in the fog in an inexplicable 37-34 home loss to LSU, which came in as a 23-point underdog. Florida lost despite churning out 609 yards of total offense. But the Gators also turned it over three times and were hurt by a costly 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to keep LSU’s go-ahead drive alive when Marco Wilson was flagged for throwing an LSU player’s shoe down the field. Now, it’s a stretch to think the Gators would make the College Football Playoff even if they were to upset Alabama in the SEC championship game.
Up next: vs. Alabama in SEC championship game (Saturday, 8 p.m. ET, CBS)
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