Florida football earned its sixth win of the 2024 campaign on Saturday against the visiting Ole Miss Rebels, who were ranked ninth in the country coming into the Week 13 affair. The 24-17 victory brought elation to the Gator Nation while turning the heads of much of the sports media.
Despite a hefty spread in favor of Lane Kiffin’s team this weekend, the game was essentially even through 45 minutes of play, with the Orange and Blue pointing the only points on the board in the fourth quarter — in the form of a touchdown — to seize the victory.
As a result of what is likely the biggest win of the Billy Napier era, ESPN’s Football Power Index gave Florida a small but not insignificant boost in its rankings with just one game remaining in the regular season.
Florida football’s FPI ranking, rating
Following the win, the FPI lifted Florida one spot to No. 25 with the team’s overall rating rising from 10.5 last week to 11.6 this week. That puts the Gators between the No. 24 Colorado Buffaloes and No. 26 Iowa State Cyclones.
Napier and Co. have clinched the six-win mark this fall and now have an 82.4% chance of winning out — up from 18.6% — but still have a 0% chance of winning the conference, a 0% chance of making the College Football Playoffs, a 0% chance of making the championship game and a 0% chance of winning the national title.
The FPI’s final record prediction rose from an even 6.0-6.0 to 6.8-5.2 with one game to go.
SEC teams in FPI
The Texas Longhorns remained in the top spot this week carrying a 26.5 overall rating, followed by the Alabama Crimson Tide (4th, 24.3) — who slipped down two spots — and Georgia Bulldogs (5th, 22.5) among the top five schools.
Ole Miss (22.4) managed to hang onto the sixth spot despite the loss and the Tennessee Volunteers (8th, 20.5) moved up a spot to wrap up the SEC teams in the top 10. The Texas A&M Aggies (15th, 14.4), South Carolina Gamecocks (16th, 14.3), LSU Tigers (19th, 12.8), Missouri Tigers (21st, 12.0), Oklahoma Sooners (23rd, 12.0) and Florida (25th, 11.6) round out the top 25.
The remainder of the conference schools in the FPI are the Auburn Tigers (29th, 9.7), Arkansas Razorbacks (32nd, 8.2), Vanderbilt Commodores (38th, 6.8), Kentucky Wildcats (42nd, 6.0) and Mississippi State Bulldogs (70th, -0.9).
Next up for Florida
The Gators wrap up the 2024 regular season schedule in Tallahassee for their annual rivalry game against the Florida State Seminoles. The game will take place inside Doak Campbell Stadium and will kick off at either 7 or 7:30 p.m. ET; broadcast details have yet to be determined.
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