Where Florida Landed in the Preseason AP Top 25

The Florida Gators will officially enter the season unranked, with the Associated Press releasing its preseason poll for the 2026 season on Monday. The Gators received 51 votes, which was the second-most among unranked teams. Clemson (112) was ahead of Florida.

BREAKING: Preseason College Football AP Poll🚨https://t.co/JL3USE6MnT pic.twitter.com/wImUOmUUg5
— On3 (@On3) August 17, 2026

Florida's unranked streak continues, with the Gators last ranked No. 13 after its season-opening win against Long Island. Florida dropped out of the poll, but received votes, after its 18-16 loss to South Florida the following week, the first of eight losses for the Gators that season.

The Gators' drought of beginning back-to-back seasons unranked continues, as well, with Florida last being ranked in back-to-back preseason polls from 2019-21.

Ranked Games

Florida will play five AP-preseason-ranked teams across the 2026 season. The Gators will host No. 9 Ole Miss (Sept. 26) before facing No. 25 Missouri the following week on the road. Additionally, Florida will face three straight preseason-ranked teams in a road game at No. 20 Texas (Oct. 17), a neutral-site game against No. 3 Georgia (Oct. 31) and a home game against No. 10 Oklahoma (Nov. 7).

Florida will induct former head coach Urban Meyer into the program's Ring of Honor during that game against the Sooners, which is currently the last AP-preseason-ranked team on the schedule.

Meanwhile, the six preseason unranked teams on the schedule are FAU (Sept. 5), Auburn (Sept. 19), South Carolina (Oct. 10), Kentucky (Nov. 14 on the road), Vanderbilt (Nov. 21) and Florida State (Nov. 27 on the road). Campbell (Sept. 12) does not qualify for the AP Poll as an FCS team.

The Gamecocks received 10 votes in the poll, while Vanderbilt (8) and Auburn (3) each received votes, as well. Two of those unranked teams — Kentucky with Will Stein and Auburn with Alex Golesh — enter the season with new head coaches, too. South Carolina (Shane Beamer) and Florida State (Mike Norvell) enter the season with head coaches on the hot seat.

Future AP Poll

The AP Poll will continually be updated throughout the season, with the new poll released every Monday. The poll, which began in 1936, will be the main poll used until the first College Football Playoff Poll is released on Tuesday, Nov. 3. From there, the CFP Poll, released each Tuesday until the final poll on Sunday, Dec. 6, will be the main poll and is used to determine the 12 playoff teams for the season.

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