One of the most inexplicable parts of Florida’s 2021 season remains true even heading into the Gasparilla Bowl against UCF: For whatever reason, analytics remain fairly high on the Gators despite the team’s 6-6 record.
This has been the case all season, whether you’re looking at the SP+ rankings from Bill Connelly or the ESPN Football Power Index. Even when UF started its midseason collapse, its placement in formula-based rankings didn’t change much from week to week.
In the latest update to ESPN’s FPI, the Gators are up two spots and come in at No. 30. The only teams with comparable records that rank higher are 6-6 Auburn at No. 19 and 5-7 Texas, who ranks No. 24 despite an incredibly disappointing first season for coach Steve Sarkisian.
Florida has certainly had moments where it looks like a top-30 team (or even better). The Gators lost by two against Alabama when their comeback effort ran out of time, and the Crimson Tide now look poised to win a national title after upsetting Georgia in the SEC Championship.
But this team’s low moments — an atrocious defensive performance in a shootout loss to LSU, a day in which it allowed 52 points to FCS Samford and a blowout loss on the road against South Carolina — overshadowed whatever positives there may have been.
UF fired coach Dan Mullen after an overtime loss to Missouri, and it needed to beat Florida State in the final game with an interim coach just to make a bowl.
Florida will try to end the season on a high note on Thursday night in the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa against a UCF team that, despite a disappointing 8-4 record, has a lot more to prove in this game and will almost certainly play one of its best games all season.
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