How much did Florida's upset win over Mississippi State impact the rankings?

The Gators won last Friday's match 2-1, sending the Bulldogs down in both the top 25 rankings and SEC standings.

Mississippi State Midfielder/Forward Tatum Borman (#14) during the match between the Ole Miss Rebels and the Mississippi State Bulldogs at the MSU Soccer Field in Starkville, MS. | Mississippi State Athletics

Mississippi State’s loss to unranked Florida was not without controversy, but the result won’t change.

The Bulldogs’ ranking in the major college soccer polls did change, though.

The Bulldogs (9-3-1, 4-2-1 SEC) fell all the way outside of the top rankings in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 and fell seven spots in the TopDrawerSoccer College Rankings to No. 17.

The later of those two rankings makes sense, but the other one does not even if Mississippi State received the most votes (14) beyond the top 25.

A team ranked No. 12 one week loses a close game (with some controversy that's explained below) to an unranked team, 2-1, and ends up not being ranked the next week?

That's absurd, and it's not like the Gators out-played the Bulldogs beyond the final score.

Mississippi State had more shots and out-possessed the Gators. It wasn't a loss worthy of falling into the land of teams receiving votes.

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The loss also dropped Mississippi State to fifth place in the SEC standings, in a tie at 13 points with this week’s opponent, No. 21 Vanderbilt (10-3-1, 3-2-1 SEC).

That match will take place Thursday at MSU Soccer Field in Starkville starting at 6 p.m. on SECN+.

But the Bulldogs will be without their best player, Ally Perry.

Last week, Perry received a red card in the 2-1 loss to Florida and will have to sit out the next match because of it.

Perry was shown the red card after a replay review of a Florida foul on Perry just outside of the Gators’ 18-yard box.

It had been a physical match and there was some jostling by Perry and Florida’s Charlotte McClure, but a double red card still seemed like an overreaction by the referee.

Fortunately for the Bulldogs, there’s no shortage of goal scorers that can step up in Perry’s absence.

Zoe Main is second on the team with five goals, both Laila Murillo and Kyra Taylor have three goals, three more players have two goals and four more have at least one goal scored.

With only three games left before the SEC Tournament in Pensacola, Fla. and the top six teams in the conference standings separated by three points, every game and point is extremely important.

United Soccer Coaches Top 25 Rankings

1. Notre Dame 12-0-1
2. Stanford 11-1-1
3. Virginia 10-1-2
4. Tennessee 11-1-2
5. Iowa 10-2-3
6. Memphis 12-0-2
7. Florida State 8-1-2
8. South Carolina 10-1-4
9. Duke 8-3-1
10. Baylor 10-1-2
11. Arkansas 7-3-3
12. Texas Tech 10-1-2
13. Georgetown 10-2-2
14. TCU 10-2-1
15. Wisconsin 11-3-1
16. Michigan State 7-3-5
17. Wake Forest 9-2-3
18. Washington 9-1-5
19. Georgia 8-3-4
20. Xavier 10-2-2
21. Vanderbilt 10-3-1
22. Colorado 10-2-2
23. North Carolina 9-5
24. West Virginia 9-2-2
25. Ohio State 5-2-6

TopDrawerSoccer Women’s College Soccer National Ranking

1. Notre Dame 12-0-1
2. Stanford 11-1-1
3. Virginia 10-1-2
4. Texas Tech 10-1-2
5. Florida State 8-1-2
6. Memphis 12-0-2
7. Baylor 10-1-2
8. Tennessee 11-1-2
9. Colorado 10-2-2
10. Duke 8-3-1
11. Washington 9-1-5
12. Arkansas 7-3-3
13. TCU 10-2-1
14. UCLA 8-4-2
15. Louisville 11-3-1
16. Georgetown 10-2-2
17. Mississippi State 9-3-1
18. Wake Forest 9-2-3
19. South Carolina 10-1-4
20. Xavier 10-2-2
21. Iowa 10-2-3
22. West Virginia 9-2-2
23. North Carolina 9-5-0
24. Illinois 12-2-1
25. Saint Louis 11-2-1