Florida football has dropped out of the Associated Press Top 25 poll released Sunday.
The Gators, who were ranked No. 13 last week, received 70 votes. Florida received the fourth-highest votes among teams ranked outside the top 25.
The Gators were upset at home by the South Florida Bulls, 18-16, following a game-winning field goal by Nico Gramatica as time expired.
“I don't want to discredit South Florida,” head coach Billy Napier said postgame. “I think they did a lot of good things out there. I have respect for how they play. But I do think that we had our opportunities to win the game tonight, and we've got to go get it done.”
Florida committed 11 penalties for 103 yards in the game, including a crucial unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against defensive lineman Brendan Bett on USF’s game-winning drive.
The Gators’ loss marked the first time South Florida won on the road against a ranked team in program history. It was also the first time UF lost at home to a Florida team outside of Florida State or Miami since 1938.
Following the upset, South Florida jumped from unranked to No. 18 in the poll.
UF’s next four opponents are all ranked in the most recent poll: No. 3 LSU, No. 5 Miami, No. 7 Texas and No. 16 Texas A&M.
The Gators will face LSU at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Contact Max Bernstein at mbernstein@alligator.org. Follow him on X @maxbernstein23.
Max is in his sixth semester at The Alligator and now serves as The Alligator's Football Reporter and is a junior sports journalism student. He previously served as The Alligator's Sports Editor, and served as reporter for women's tennis, volleyball and lacrosse. He also has made multiple appearances on the Paul Finebaum Show. He wants to shoutout his cats, Scooter and Zoe, and also loves niche professional athletes (shoutout Tomas Fleischmann).
