Florida football came out of the preseason buried in both of the major polls with a steep hill to climb to get back into the nation’s top-25 teams. After a 29-26 upset of a top-10 ranked team in the Utah Utes, it looks like the Gators are quickly making that steep climb.
Most of the media agree that [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag]’s team exceeded expectations when it trounced the reigning Pac-12 champions in the Swamp on Saturday night and have rewarded the Orange and Blue with much-improved outlooks on the recently-revamped program. USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll elevated Florida to No. 19 in its latest rankings and the AP Poll also followed suit, albeit with a much more favorable result.
The Gators land at No. 12 in the AP Poll’s Week 1 top 25 in a substantial improvement over their former standing. The three SEC schools ahead of them — No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide, No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs and No. 6 Texas A&M Aggies — are the lone conference representatives in the top 10.
The other SEC programs in the top 25 are the Arkansas Razorbacks who rank at No. 16, Kentucky Wildcats at No. 20 and Tennessee Volunteers at No. 24. Florida’s Week 1 opponent Utah logs in one spot behind the Gators at No. 13.
Full rankings:
| RANK | TEAM | TREND | POINTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Alabama (1-0)
|
–
|
1,552 (44) |
| 2 |
Georgia (1-0)
|
1
|
1,511 (17) |
| 3 |
Ohio St (1-0)
|
1
|
1,471 (2) |
| 4 |
Michigan (1-0)
|
4
|
1,299 |
| 5 |
Clemson (1-0)
|
1
|
1,280 |
| 6 |
TAMU (1-0)
|
–
|
1,241 |
| 7 |
Oklahoma (1-0)
|
2
|
1,130 |
| 8 |
Notre Dame (0-1)
|
3
|
1,085 |
| 9 |
Baylor (1-0)
|
1
|
1,057 |
| 10 |
USC (1-0)
|
4
|
898 |
| 11 |
Oklahoma St (1-0)
|
1
|
818 |
| 12 |
Florida (1-0)
|
–
|
763 |
| 13 |
Utah (0-1)
|
6
|
717 |
| 14 |
Michigan St (1-0)
|
1
|
690 |
| 15 |
Miami (FL) (1-0)
|
1
|
679 |
| 16 |
Arkansas (1-0)
|
3
|
678 |
| 17 |
Pittsburgh (1-0)
|
–
|
535 |
| 18 |
NC State (1-0)
|
5
|
513 |
| 19 |
Wisconsin (1-0)
|
1
|
476 |
| 20 |
Kentucky (1-0)
|
–
|
373 |
| 21 |
BYU (1-0)
|
4
|
266 |
| 22 |
Ole Miss (1-0)
|
1
|
254 |
| 23 |
Wake Forest (1-0)
|
1
|
246 |
| 24 |
Tennessee (1-0)
|
–
|
194 |
| 25 |
Houston (1-0)
|
1
|
143 |
Others receiving votes:
Oregon 131, Penn State 122, Texas 118, Cincinnati 63, Florida State 42, Fresno State 22, UCF 22, Minnesota 22, Kansas State 18, Auburn 15, Mississippi State 10, Air Force 8, Oregon State 5, North Carolina 3, South Carolina 2, Purdue 1, UCLA 1, Arizona 1
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