Florida football was on its first and only bye of the 2026 campaign this weekend and yet still gained ground in some of the rankings, including ESPN's SP+ metric.
Following college football's Week 8 action, Bill Connelly released his SP+ update, with Florida rising to No. 31 in the overall rankings with a 10.6 rating despite the triumph over Texas. That represents a seven-spot improvement from last week's standings and a 1.4-point increase from the previous rating.
The Gators also climbed up a couple of spots in ESPN's Football Power Index this week to No. 17.
Looking deeper into the numbers, Florida's offensive SP+ remained at 33.5 and is now No. 24 in the nation, marking a three-spot rise from the last update. Meanwhile, the defense checks in at No. 50
with a 24.9 rating — a 12-spot improvement and a 1.4-point decrease — while special teams slipped from first to third in the country while holding onto its 0.6 rating.
The SEC still has seven schools in the SP+ rankings' top 25 for the third straight week, headlined by second-ranked Georgia, followed by LSU (No. 4), Alabama (No. 7) and Texas (No. 8) among the top 10. The remaining top-25 representatives are Tennessee (No. 11), Ole Miss (No. 16) and Missouri (No. 18); Florida (No. 31), Kentucky (No. 32), Oklahoma (No. 33) and Texas A&M (No. 34) lurk just beyond the top 30.
ESPN's Week 8 SP+ top 25 rankings
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida football leaps in ESPN's SP+ rankings after bye in Week 8
