Blowout loss to Texas drops Florida in The Athletic’s latest SEC vibe check

Florida’s 32-point loss to Texas in Week 11 has the Gators dropping further down the weekly SEC vibe check rankings.

There was a brief moment where things seemed to be trending up for the Florida Gators this year, but the first half against Georgia feels a lot further away than the six quarters and eight days.

The Athletic’s weekly SEC vibe check reflects the sudden depressive episode Gator Nation has slipped into after a 49-17 thumping at the hands of Texas on Saturday, with Florida slipping to No. 12 out of 16 in the conference rankings.

“We were all set to pronounce the vibes just great thanks to Thursday’s announcement that Napier was coming back next year,” wrote The Athletic’s Seth Emerson.

“A justifiable decision met with not much pushback from the fan base. Then a day later came news that the athletic director who made that announcement has issues with the men’s basketball program. Then a day later, Napier’s team got clobbered in Austin. So… yeah. There are ‘we can’t have nice things’ vibes in Gainesville.”

For once, Emerson hit the nail on the head here with Florida. Billy Napier getting a vouch of confidence did receive some pushback, but it’s mostly a vocal minority on social media — find something better to do with your life, I am begging.

Then everything went horribly wrong for the Gators, including the Todd Golden drama. The Texas drubbing has both coaches and players sounding glum, but things could change in a heartbeat if DJ Lagway returns to play against LSU and/or Ole Miss.

Despite many injuries, a three-game win streak to end the regular season is not out of the question for this team.

Week 11 SEC vibe check rankings

  1. Ole Miss Rebels (8-2, 4-2 SEC)
  2. South Carolina Gamecocks (6-3, 4-3)
  3. Alabama Crimson Tide (7-2, 4-2)
  4. Texas Longhorns (8-1, 4-1)
  5. Tennessee Volunteers (8-1, 5-1)
  6. Vanderbilt Commodores (6-4, 3-3 )
  7. Texas A&M Aggies (7-2, 5-1)
  8. Missouri Tigers (7-2, 3-2)
  9. Arkansas Razorbacks (5-4, 3-3)
  10. Georgia Bulldogs (7-2, 5-2)
  11. Oklahoma Sooners (5-5, 1-5)
  12. Florida Gators (4-5, 2-4)
  13. Mississippi State Bulldogs (2-8, 0-6)
  14. Kentucky Wildcats (3-6, 1-6)
  15. Auburn Tigers (3-6, 1-5)
  16. LSU Tigers (6-3, 3-2)

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