The Florida Gators are off to a strong start this fall, winning both of their games against FAU and Campbell to begin the 2026 campaign with two wins for the first time since 2021. Sure, neither team was much to write home about, but the Jon Sumrall era has nonetheless begun with a bang, having outscored the opposition, 118-24, over the first eight quarters of play.
Despite that success, The Athletic's Chris Vannini has not been terribly impressed with Florida's overall performance so far. After placing the Gators at No. 31 on his preseason list, he promoted them to No. 30 after their Week 1 win.
However, in his latest re-ranking of all 138 college football teams, Vannini demoted the Orange and Blue back to No. 31 — between No. 30 Penn State and No. 32
Iowa. While he did not offer a direct explanation for the move, he does offer some consolation to the teams in the tier just below the top 25.
"This section is where the impact of the moves at the end of the top 25 creates a bunch of teams moving 'down' for losses. Again, don’t worry about it too much."
The Southeastern Conference has eight schools among the top 25 of The Athletic's re-rank, with Texas leading the way at No. 1, immediately followed by LSU at No. 2, along with Georgia (No. 6), Ole Miss (No. 8) and Texas A&M (No. 9) in the top 10. The rest of the schools representing the league are Alabama (No. 11), Tennessee (No. 15) and Mississippi State (No. 18); Oklahoma sits just outside the group at No. 26.
The Athletic's college football re-rank top 25 after Week 2
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida slips a spot in The Athletic's re-rank despite Week 2 victory
