The Jon Sumrall era began in Gainesville with an offensive explosion that saw Florida football score a 66-21 victory over the FAU Owls in the Swamp. The Gators finished with the most yards gained since 2020 and their point total was the most in a season opener since a 69-0 thrashing of Montana State in 1988.
Sumrall also continued a streak of first-year UF coaches winning their debuts. The last one to lose their first game in Gainesville was Charlie Pell, who began the 1979 campaign with a 14-10 loss to Houston; the Gators did not win a single game that season.
With all 31 new head coaches having wrapped up their first games after Week 1's action, USA TODAY Sports writer Paul Myerberg ranked them all based on their initial results. Sumrall landed
just outside of the top 10 at No. 11 in his rankings.
"The Gators’ energy and aggressiveness led the way to 624 yards of offense, 30 first downs, three takeaways and a 66-21 blowout against Florida Atlantic. Florida looked like a Sumrall-coached team, basically."
Looking like a "Sumrall-coached team" bodes well for the Orange and Blue, given his track record at his previous two stops, having amassed a 43-12 record between Troy and Tulane over four seasons.
Just below Sumrall in the rankings at No. 12 is former Gators skipper Billy Napier, who took over the sideline duties for the James Madison Dukes this season. While he started with a W at his new gig, there appears to still be some room for improvement.
"JMU wasn’t too great on offense but still managed to pull out a 20-13 win against Liberty. The Dukes will need to get more scoring on the board to repeat atop the Sun Belt."
The rankings were headlined by Lane Kiffin, whose LSU Tigers thoroughly humiliated Clemson on Saturday, followed by Bob Chesney with UCLA, Jim Mora with Colorado State, Charles Huff with Memphis and Pete Golding with Ole Miss, respectively.
Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: How Jon Sumrall's debut for Florida ranks among other 1st-year coaches
