Florida football’s huge victory over the Utah Utes to open the 2022 campaign has had a tremendous effect on how the national media sees [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag]’s team. Previously sitting well outside of all of the major top-25 rankings, the Gators have made a meteoric ascent in the polls following their Week 1 win.
The Orange and Blue moved up to the No. 19 spot in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll and even higher in the AP Poll, shooting up all the way to No. 12. Sports Illustrated has Florida cracking the top 10 and landing at No. 8 in the country while USA TODAY Sports‘ re-ranking put it at No. 12.
CBS Sports has also weighed in on the opening game of the Gators’ schedule, issuing the team an A-plus grade for its performance last Saturday. Sports writer Chip Patterson also contributed to the cause, publishing his college football rankings after Week 1 and putting the Gators at No. 11.
That ranking puts Florida behind three other SEC schools, with the Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs claiming the top two spots, respectively, and the Texas A&M Aggies at No. 7. The Arkansas Razorbacks are one spot behind the Gators at No. 12 while the Tennessee Volunteers at No. 22 and Kentucky Wildcats at No. 23 round out the conference peers included.
Florida will face Kentucky this weekend in the Swamp with a kickoff time slated for 7 p.m. EDT.
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