Florida football's first loss of the 2026 campaign was a brutal one: a 45-17 defeat at the hands of the Missouri Tigers at Faurot Field on their homecoming day. Nothing seemed to go right for the Gators, with their high-flying offense held in check and their defense picked apart through the air and on the ground.
It was an "embarrassing performance in every phase," Jon Sumrall said after his first failure as Florida's head coach.
Following college football's Week 5 action, ESPN's Bill Connelly released his SP+ update, with the Orange and Blue falling to No. 20 with a 14.1 rating. That represents an eight-spot drop from last week's ranking and a 4.4-point decrease from the previous rating.
Looking deeper into the numbers, Florida's offensive SP+
of 37.5 lands at No. 10 in the nation, marking a 1.3-point and one-spot drop from the last update. Meanwhile, the defense checks in at No. 52 with a 20.8 rating — a 21-spot drop and a 3.0-point increase — while special teams remain ranked second in the country but saw their rating drop 0.1 points to 0.4.
The Gators are joined by eight other SEC schools in the SP+ rankings' top 25 — the same number as last week — headlined by top-ranked Georgia, followed by Alabama (No. 6), LSU (No. 7) and Texas (No. 8) among the top 10. The remaining top-25 representatives are Tennessee (No. 12), Missouri (No. 15), Florida (No. 20) and Oklahoma (No. 23).
ESPN's Week 5 SP+ top 25 rankings
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Missouri loss sends Florida tumbling in ESPN's latest SP+ rankings
