The Gator Nation had its prayers answered in Saturday in the Swamp, where the Florida football team defeated the then-ninth-ranked Ole Miss Rebels, 24-17, to earn its sixth win of the season. That magical mark punches the Gators’ ticket into the 2024 postseason.
Despite entering the Southeastern Conference matchup a double-digit underdog to the visitors, the Orange and Blue went toe-to-toe with the top-10 team and pulled off its second upset win in as many weeks. The decision to keep Billy Napier as head coach of the program is looking better and better each weekend.
As one would expect, Florida got a boost in the polls and rankings — including four votes in the AP Poll — after earning its bowl berth. ESPN’s Billy Connelly released his latest SP+ rankings on Sunday in which the Gators improved their position by three spots.
Florida football’s SP+ ranking, rating
Following the victory inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Connelly’s rankings raised the Gators from No. 31 last week out of 134 Football Bowl Subdivision schools with a 6.9 overall rating to No. 28 with a 10.2 rating. That places Napier and Co. between the No. 27 Tulane Green Wave and No. 29 Arkansas Razorbacks.
On offense, the team fell four spots to No. 37 while the corps’ rating fell back to where it was two weeks ago at 31.6 — down from 32.3. The defense also gained a little ground in the rankings, moving up from No. 43 to No. 42; however, the rating fell from 23.7 to 23.6.
The special teams unit, which spent a few weeks as the top-rated corps in the country at the start of the schedule, came in at No. with a whopping 2.1 points for the position room. That is the highest rating of the fall, with most of the season spent maxed out at 0.4.
SP+ rankings top 10 teams
The Ohio State Buckeyes maintained the top spot in the rankings for the fourth straight week, while the Ole Miss Rebels somehow came in second despite the loss. The Oregon Ducks, Texas Longhorns and Georgia Bulldogs wrap up the teams in the top five, respectively.
The Alabama Crimson Tide fell to sixth in the rankings with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Miami Hurricanes, Tennessee Volunteers and Penn State Nittany Lions, respectively, wrapping up the top 10.
About SP+ predictions
“SP+ is intended to be predictive and forward-facing,” according to ESPN. “It is not a résumé ranking that gives credit for big wins or particularly brave scheduling — no good predictive system is.
“It is simply a measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football. If you’re lucky or unimpressive in a win, your rating will probably fall. If you’re strong and unlucky in a loss, it will probably rise.”
Up next 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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