Florida Gets Big Jump in AP Poll After Win Over Ole Miss

Florida had a dramatic rise in the AP Poll after its 52-28 win over Ole Miss.

Florida had a dramatic rise in the AP Poll after its 52-28 win over Ole Miss. | Kyle Lander / Florida Gators on SI

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Jon Sumrall officially has the Florida Gators as a top-10 team just a quarter of the way through the 2026 season.

After Saturday's dominant 52-28 win over then-No. 4 Ole Miss, the Gators have risen from No. 21 all the way to No. 8 in the AP Poll. The ranking marks Florida's highest ranking since 2020 and its first top 10 ranking since 2021.

Florida jumps into the top 10 after a MASSIVE win over Ole Miss 🔥

Here's the full AP Top 25 for Week 5 📊 pic.twitter.com/pF6XDPfUh7

— ESPN (@espn) September 27, 2026

Sumrall echoed a previous sentiment about waking the beast that is Florida's football program after Saturday's win, which moved the Gators to 4-0 for the first time since 2019 while matching last year's win total.

"It's not asleep. But it ain't fully awake yet. It's being kind of stirred up a little bit," he said. "So we're gonna get there. But yeah, it's coming. Like, I promise you, I didn't come here for us to be average. We're gonna work tirelessly -- coaches, players, everybody -- to put a product on the field that we can be proud of."

Of note, six teams other than Ole Miss that were ranked ahead of Florida last week — No. 14 Tennessee, No. 12 USC, No. 13 Penn State, No. 16 Louisville, No. 18 Michigan and No. 19 Missouri — all lost on Saturday, which aided the Gators' jump.

Florida is set to face No. 25 Missouri on the road this week before facing No. 1 Texas (Oct. 17), No. 2 Georgia (Oct. 31 in Atlanta) and No. 24 Kentucky (Nov. 14) later in the season away from the Swamp. With its ranking, the Gators are expected to be favored in six of its last eight games for the time being.

Florida has not won more than eight games in a season since 2019, recording four losing seasons in the six years since.

"It's a turnaround. Something that we worked so hard for since Coach Sumrall came in," said running back Jadan Baugh, who rushed for 142 yards and three touchdowns in the win. "He kept our heads down to just go out there and grind. Each and every week, we're gonna go out there and play harder than anybody. We're going to play longer than anybody. And if they can't stand in front of us for five, six quarters, then I think it's gonna be a hard day for them."

Kickoff between the Gators and the Tigers, the teams' first meeting since 2023, is at 3:30 p.m. with television coverage on ABC.

Enjoy our content? Make Florida Gators on SI a Preferred Source to see more stories from us on Google: https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=si.com