Billy Napier and the Florida Gators had a bye during college football’s Week 9 but that does not mean there was not plenty of gridiron action going on.
While the Orange and Blue used its time off to regroup, the nation’s favorite fall sport once again delivered some exciting results that resulted in some changes in the media’s various polls and rankings. The US LBM Coaches Poll did not see much movement among its top six teams but down the ballot, there were a few shakeups.
Florida might not be making any appearances in the major polls this week, but they remained among the top 25 in ESPN’s Football Power Index rankings. After the weekend breather, the Gators saw their stock slip slightly in the SP+ rankings from ESPN, but are still a top-25 team according to that computer model.
Florida football’s SP+ ranking, rating
Last week, Napier and Co. were ranked 18th out of 134 Football Bowl Subdivision schools with a 13.7 overall rating after a big homecoming win over the Kentucky Wildcats. After the bye this weekend, Florida slipped three spots to No. 21 — still well within the top 25 — with a 13.0 overall rating.
On offense, the team slipped from No. 15 and a 36.1 rating to No. 21 and a 35.3 rating; the defense actually moved up from No. 44 with a 22.8 rating to No. 41, but this week’s rating fell 0.1 points to 22.7.
The special teams unit, which spent a few weeks as the top-rated corps in the country at the start of the schedule, inched back up from No. 13 to No. 11 with a 0.4 rating — the same it has had all season.
SP+ rankings top 10 teams
The Texas Longhorns reclaimed the top spot in the SP+ rankings from the now-second-place Ohio State Buckeyes, edging them by 0.5 points in the ratings. The Ole Miss Rebels, Oregon Ducks and Alabama Crimson Tide round out the top five, respectively.
The Georgia Bulldogs come at No. 6, followed by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Penn State Nittany Lions, Miami Hurricanes and Tennessee Volunteers, respectively, to round out the top 10 schools.
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.”
Coming up for Florida
Florida and Georgia face off for a Week 10 rivalry battle in Jacksonville on Saturday, Nov. 2 with kickoff slated for 3:30 p.m. ET. The pregame festivities will be featured on SEC Nation and the game will be broadcast on ABC.
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