Tag: The Athletic

Despite the “vibe” in Gainesville going up following a 24-13 win over UCF this weekend, the Florida Gators remain at No. 14 in the latest SEC vibe check rankings from The Athletic.

Maybe it’s because Georgia Bulldogs writer Seth Emerson compiled this list, but leaving Florida in the bottom three after so many other teams collapsed feels intentionally disrespectful. The copy also contains some heavy sarcasm.

“Billy Napier fights on! It does seem to just be delaying the inevitable, but hey, give credit where it’s due,” Emerson wrote, without giving much credit where it was supposedly due.

To rub some salt in the wound, Emerson has Auburn jumping up three spots to No. 13 — one place ahead of Florida — for seemingly no good reason.

“By scoring margin, it was Auburn’s worst loss of the season,” he wrote. “By actual performance, it was the best loss, validation that when this team doesn’t turn the ball over it can be halfway competitive.”

Got it. “Best losses” and “halfway competitive” are better than actual wins.

Emerson got some things right, though, like moving Vanderbilt into the top spot after a gargantuan upset of Alabama — after beating Georgia the week prior.

Texas A&M moving into the No. 2 spot seems right, too. If a 31-point victory over a top-10 team isn’t getting the vibes up, it’s hard to figure out what is.

It looks like Florida will have to do something mighty impressive to break into the top 10 at any point. If that happens, maybe The Athletic will provide some real analysis instead of cheap shots at Billy Napier. (Probably not, though.)

Week 4 SEC vibe check rankings

1. Vanderbilt Commodores (3-2, 1-1)
2. Texas A&M Aggies (5-1, 3-0)
3. Arkansas Razorbacks (4-2, 2-1)
4. Texas Longhorns (5-0, 1-0)
5. Ole Miss Rebels (5-1, 1-1)
6. Georgia Bulldogs (4-1, 2-1)
7. Alabama Crimson Tide (4-1, 1-1)
8. Tennessee Volunteers (4-1, 1-1)
9. Kentucky Wildcats (3-2, 1-2)
10. Oklahoma Sooners (4-1, 1-1)
11. LSU Tigers (4-1, 1-0)
12. Missouri Tigers (4-1, 1-1)
13. Auburn Tigers (2-4, 0-3)
14. Florida Gators (3-2, 1-1)
15. South Carolina Gamecocks (3-2, 1-2)
16. Mississippi State Bulldogs (1-4, 0-2)

Next up for Florida

The Gators head to Knoxville next week to resume Southeastern Conference play against the Tennessee Volunteers. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.

Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.

Florida didn’t play in Week 5 of the college football season, so the Gators held steady at No. 14 on The Athletic’s weekly SEC vibe check.

“A week off meant watching a certain coach lose unexpectedly, meaning that certain coach might not make the Playoff and thus could be available,” senior writer Seth Emerson wrote. “There is still the matter of the current coach, who faces UCF at home this week, which could be the last time the Gators are favored this season. Probably a good idea to go bank that win.”

The “certain coach” Emerson is referring to is, of course, Lane Kiffin of Ole Miss. Many in Gator Nation want Kiffin to be the next coach in Gainesville, but that assumes Billy Napier’s time is up. A win over UCF might not save Napier’s job outright, but it gets him closer to that preseason projection of four wins.

Emerson is also forgetting about a miserable Florida State team that fell to 1-4 this week against SMU. If Florida isn’t favored to win the season finale against FSU, then it might really be wraps for Napier.

The rest of the SEC vibe check is as expected: Alabama moved into the top spot following an upset over Georgia and Kentucky jumped into the top five after beating Ole Miss.

One interesting note from this week’s vibe check is that both South Carolina and Vanderbilt fell despite being on bye. The Gamecocks only dropped one spot, which typically means another team had a strong week, but Vanderbilt fell four places with Alabama looming on the schedule.

Perhaps the Georgia writer felt Vandy had a chance to upset the Tide before Kalen DeBoer’s group put the hurt on them ‘Dawgs…

Week 5 SEC vibe check rankings

1. Alabama Crimson Tide (4-0, 1-0)
2. Texas Longhorns (5-0, 1-0)
3. Tennessee Volunteers (4-0, 1-0 SEC)
4. Kentucky Wildcats (3-2, 1-2)
5. Missouri Tigers (4-0, 1-0)
6. Texas A&M Aggies (4-1, 2-0)
7. Georgia Bulldogs (3-1, 1-1)
8. Oklahoma Sooners (4-1, 1-1)
9. Arkansas Razorbacks (3-2, 1-1)
10. South Carolina Gamecocks (3-1, 1-1)
11. Vanderbilt Commodores (2-2, 0-1)
12. LSU Tigers (4-1, 1-0)
13. Ole Miss Rebels (4-1, 0-1)
14. Florida Gators (2-2, 1-1)
15. Mississippi State Bulldogs (1-4, 0-2)
16. Auburn Tigers (2-3, 0-2)

Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.

After spending the first three weeks of the season ranked 16th on the Athletic’s weekly SEC vibe check, the Florida Gators have moved up two spots to No. 14 following a 17-point win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

It’s a somewhat hollow victory for Florida, though, as MSU has spent most of the season ranked in the bottom three of the conference. With several top-25 left on the schedule, this could be the high point for Florida football.

“This result did not change the fundamentals of the situation,” college football writer Seth Emerson wrote. “It did show, well, that there’s some life in the Gators, that they haven’t packed it in despite the noise about the seemingly inevitable.

“Maybe it says something about Billy Napier, his staff and his players. Or maybe it just says something about the team they beat. Either way, let’s push the vibes up in Gainesville because while change may be inevitable — and change is exciting — the present isn’t one to write off just yet.”

Emerson is still projecting this to be the final season of the Billy Napier era in Gainesville, but at least called the Gators a “competent team” against the likes of Mississippi State and FCS Samford.

It’s hard to see Florida moving any higher than No. 14 on this list with no game scheduled for Week 5. A win over UCF the following week would send the vibes skyrocketing up, but let’s take things one week at a time.

Week 4 SEC vibe check rankings

1. Tennessee Volunteers (4-0, 1-0 SEC)
2. Texas Longhorns (4-0, 0-0)
3. Ole Miss Rebels (4-0, 0-0)
4. Alabama Crimson Tide (3-0, 0-0)
5. Georgia Bulldogs (3-0, 1-0)
6. Missouri Tigers (4-0, 1-0)
7. Vanderbilt Commodores (2-2, 0-1)
8. Texas A&M Aggies (3-1, 1-0)
9. South Carolina Gamecocks (3-1, 1-1)
10. Kentucky Wildcats (2-2, 0-2)
11. Arkansas Razorbacks (3-1, 1-0)
12. LSU Tigers (3-1, 1-0)
13. Oklahoma Sooners (3-1, 0-1)
14. Florida Gators (2-2, 1-1)
15. Mississippi State Bulldogs (1-3, 0-1)
16. Auburn Tigers (2-2, 0-1)

Up next for the Gators

Florida does not play next week with its first bye of the season scheduled. The UCF Knights will come to Gainesville in Week 6 for a 2021 Gasparilla Bowl rematch. The Gators are looking for revenge after falling to the Knights, 29-17, under interim head coach Greg Knox.

UCF features the best rushing attack in college football through four weeks of play. The Knights average 375.7 yards on the ground and have 13 touchdowns on the ground. Meanwhile, Florida is ranked 107th of the 133 FBS teams in run defense after allowing 188.8 rushing yards per game.

Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.