Florida is back in the AP Top 25. The Gators (5-2, 3-2 SEC) landed at No. 20 in the poll released Sunday, one week after falling out, thanks to a 27-24 win at No. 7 Texas. Texas went the other direction. The Longhorns dropped 12 spots, from No. 7 to No. 19, after their second straight loss. Florida is ranked ahead of Missouri, which is No. 22 after beating the Gators 45-17 on Oct. 3. The top of the poll Miami is No. 1 for the first time since the 2002 season, receiving 40 of the 70 first-place votes. BYU is No. 2, its highest ranking since 1984, and Ohio State is No. 3. Notre Dame is No. 4. Georgia, last week's No. 1, fell to No. 5 after losing at home to Auburn. The Bulldogs are next on Florida's schedule. Movers Among teams that stayed ranked, BYU and Houston climbed the most, six spots each. Texas fell the farthest, followed by Missouri (13 to 22) and Alabama (6 to 13). The SEC has nine teams ranked: Georgia (5), Ole Miss (7), Tennessee (11), Kentucky (12), Alabama (13), LSU (18), Texas (19), Florida (20) and Missouri (22). AP Top 25, Oct. 18, 2026 (selected teams) Rank Team Last week 1 Miami (Fla.) 3 2 BYU 8 3 Ohio State 4 4 Notre Dame 2 5 Georgia 1 19 Texas 7 20 Florida Unranked Florida has an open date Saturday, Oct. 24. The Gators' next game is against that No. 5 team: Georgia on Saturday, Oct. 31, at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC from Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Source: The Associated Press Top 25 poll released Oct. 18, 2026. Last-week rankings are from the AP poll of Oct. 11. Photo courtesy UAA (University Athletic Association, FloridaGators.com) and Hannah White. See more of her work on Instagram, and the official Florida Gators photo galleries at FloridaGators.com.

The warm and fuzzies of turning Arch Madness into a smoldering heap of Arch Sadness probably won’t go away this week since the Florida Gators (5-2, 3-2 SEC) can’t possibly lose. Bye weeks are a wonderful thing, particularly when you have just wrecked the College Football Playoff hopes of the Texas Longhorns, who just two weeks ago were cruising along unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in the nation. Jon Sumrall will use the week to get his banged up wide receivers back in good health and even though the practices will be shorter and not so intense, he will do his best to get everybody’s feet back down to earth and planted on solid ground. “We'll still practice,” Sumrall said after the Gators stunned 7th-ranked Texas, 27-24, Saturday in Austin. “Monday we'll do meetings, lifting, kind of get your bodies back a little bit. Tuesday we'll go for about an hour. Tuesday and Wednesday with pads and we'll bang a little bit. We've got to practice, we've got to stay sharp, we've got to get better. Thursday we'll do kind of a run through. “We have to right now after seven games kind of stop, catch our breath, still get some work, but get some bodies back to healthy and fresher and then take a deep dive. I love the bye-week because you get to take a deep dive into where are we playing well, where are we not, who deserves more opportunities, who may deserve less. We evaluate everything that's going right and wrong. And I expect everybody to take ownership of it so we can move forward for the rest of the year.” The rest of the year looks a lot more promising after the Texas win than it did a week ago when South Carolina tattooed the Gators 38-19 in The Swamp of all places. We’ve seen what the Gators are capable of in wins over then No. 4 Ole Miss and soon to drop out of the top ten Texas. The same can be said about the curbstomp losses to South Carolina and Missouri. We really don’t know what kind of team will show up the last five games but at least we know that if all things are clicking there isn’t a single game on the schedule the Gators aren’t capable of winning. The mother of all questions moving forward, the one that actually tops can the defense continue to play at the level they showed against Texas, is who’s going to be the QB moving forward? Indeedy. What happens when Aaron Philo has full range of motion and the soreness has departed from his wounded shoulder? Do Sumrall and offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner give in to that unwritten football rule that you can’t lose your starting job because of an injury or do they go with Tramell Jones Jr., who did the unthinkable by playing with such poise and focus to lead the Gators past Texas on the road, no less? Sumrall wasn’t about to tip his hand Saturday afternoon. “Looking back the last two games, Philo didn't cost us the last two games,” Sumrall said. “I'm not going to point fingers at everybody, but just like individually, Trammel didn't win the game by himself. I'm glad we got two guys that I believe that we can go win football games with. We will get through the tape. I'll watch the tape on the plane today and then I'll watch it again tomorrow. And then we'll figure out how we move forward. Some of it, too, is there's, you know, Philo’s got an injury so when's he ready after the injury? That matters. But so ... that's a word salad basically to tell you there's going to be no decision like tonight of like, hey, this is what I'm doing moving forward. Philo's been our guy and has won us some big games too, just like Trammel helped us win a big game today as well. So I like both guys. I love both guys. I believe in both guys. I've said that about Trammel for several months now, like since I saw the shift in the summer. I really felt like we could win with both guys, and that proves that we did it today.” What has to weigh heavily on the minds of Sumrall and Faulkner is the way Jones handled a 14-point deficit. When the Gators fell behind to both Missouri and South Carolina, Aaron Philo didn’t bring the Gators back from the dead to make the games at least competitive. When the Gators fell behind Texas 17-3 we got to see Tramell Jones at his best. He led. The Gators followed. Florida won the game. That’s the bottom line. The defense finally showed it is capable of making big plays in big moments. The secondary is still young and inexperienced, but when the pass rush turns ferocious like it did against Texas it cuts into the time they have to stay glued to receivers. Against Texas, LJ McCray played like the 5-star off the edge that we thought he would be when he arrived from Daytona Beach Mainland. Ty Jackson has to play. He plays like he’s on a mission to decleat whoever has the bad sense to come his way football in hand. Myles Graham delivered the hit on Arch Manning that separated the football, essentially winning the game with a little more than two minutes to go. Can they do it again and again and again? If what we saw Saturday is a preview of things to come the Florida defense should call themselves Team Lazarus, because they will have been raised from the dead. In the first quarter against Texas and a portion of the second, the offensive line looked like the same guys who were no shows against Missouri and South Carolina. Starting with the midway point of the second quarter and extending through the second half, they were dominating. The Gators ate 8:03 off the third quarter clock on a 15-play drive for the game-tying touchdown. They went 14 plays taking 6:31 off the clock for the field goal that gave the Gators the lead for good at 20-17. Now, the Texas defense is too good to give up a ton of explosive plays, but it says something about the Florida O-line that they were able to keep the chains moving, give enough creases that Jadan Baugh could run for 91 yards and give Jones time to see the field and make proper decisions. The Ole Miss and Texas games showed what happens when a plan really does come together for the Florida Gators. The South Carolina and Missouri games showed us what happens when the cat peed on the homework. The current version of the Gators is Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates because we really don’t know which one we’re going to get. Sumrall put it in perspective after the win over Texas when he said, “We still suck. We just suck less so we have to figure out how we suck less each week.” Sucking less on Saturday against Texas doesn’t mean the Gators have arrived, but it is a start and a valuable lesson if taken to heart and applied on the field by this team. “It doesn't matter who you play, where you play, when you play, you have to fight,” Sumrall said. “If you do not fight, you will get embarrassed. This league, man, there's nowhere to hide. Week in, week out, it's the closest thing you got to the NFL, and you got to bring it every freaking Saturday.” ELSEWHERE IN THE SEC Auburn (4-2, 2-2 SEC) 27, No. 1 Georgia (6-1, 4-1 SEC) 24: Gunner Stockton may have kissed good-bye any Heisman hopes he was harboring as the Bulldogs bit the bullet against Auburn. Stockton, the quarterback who rarely made a mistake in the first half of the season, threw two interceptions and then fumbled with 58 seconds remaining. Auburn recovered and with the benefit of a roughing the passer penalty drove for the game-winning field goal as time expired. The loss ended Georgia’s streak of 53 straight wins over non-ranked opponents. Auburn QB Byrum Brown threw for 150 yards and a TD plus ran for 115 and another score. Auburn overcame 11 penalties. No. 14 Tennessee (6-1, 3-1 SEC) 26, No. 6 Alabama (5-2, 3-2 SEC) 10: The story of the game was the Tennessee defense, which sacked Keelon Russell five times while forcing four turnovers. Desean Bishop ran for 159 yards and two touchdowns as part of a conservative game plan that allowed the Vols to control the football while keeping the Bama offense off the field. Josh Heupel is now 3-3 against Alabama, 3-0 at home, 0-3 on the road. The loss was the second straight for Alabama, marking the first time since 2012 that the Crimson Tide has lost back-to-back games. Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer has lost 10 games in three years and there are still five games to go in the regular season. Bama fans are not happy. No. 9 Ole Miss (5-1, 3-1 SEC) 31, No. 13 Missouri (5-2, 2-2 SEC) 3: Trinidad Chambliss threw for 241 yards and three touchdowns while running for a fourth as the Rebels dominated both sides of the football. Ole Miss benefitted from a healthy Kewan Lacey, who ran for 122 yards, and backup Makhi Frazier, who chipped in with 101. Ole Miss threw for 241 yards and ran for 257. Mizzou’s offense couldn’t get untracked against the Rebels, who suddenly discovered it is legal to tackle opposing running backs before they are five or more yards past the line of scrimmage. Mizzou’s Jamal Roberts, who was leading the SEC in rushing, was held to 39 yards on 20 carries. No. 15 Kentucky (6-1, 4-1 SEC) 21, Oklahoma (3-3, 1-2 SEC) 13: This was a College Football Playoff elimination game for Oklahoma and the Sooners are out after another dismal performance by John Mateer, who completed three passes to the Kentucky defensive backs. As brilliant as he was in the second half against Texas the week before Mateer was miserable against Kentucky. It is midseason and Brent Venables has already lost as many games as he did all of last year, plus he has a rotten offense. Mateer is a senior so he’s a goner after this year. Expect the same for offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle. As for Kentucky, they are no longer the Mildcats. Yes, the offense struggled against Oklahoma’s defense but every offense struggles against the Sooners. What Kentucky did was match Oklahoma’s defensive intensity. First year head coach Will Stein has a bowl eligible team and there are still five regular season games to go. Not only that, Kentucky is firmly in contention for the College Football Playoff. Whodathunk that? No. 22 LSU (5-2, 2-2 SEC) 31, No. 16 Mississippi State (4-2, 2-2 SEC) 0: Kamario Taylor and Fluff Bothwell didn’t play for Mississippi State due to injuries. That explains the zero, but the way the MSU defense played the Bulldogs would have still lost to LSU. This was Sam Leavitt’s best game as a Tiger, completing 31-38 passes including four for touchdowns without throwing an interception. If Lane Kiffin can get Leavitt to play at that level consistently then the Tigers have a real shot at making the College Football Playoff even with two losses. Jeff Lebby needs two more wins for bowl eligibility, three more to guarantee a winning season. A seven win season gets you fired in some places. In Starkville they start talking about erecting a statue of you outside the stadium. Arkansas (3-4, 1-3 SEC) 31, Vanderbilt (3-4, 0-4 SEC) 21: KJ Jackson had his best game as a Razorback, throwing for 251 yards without an interception while running for 58 more and a TD as Arkansas assured itself that it won’t go winless in SEC play. Arkansas outscored Vandy 17-7 in the second half. The Razorbacks intercepted Jared Curtis twice and while giving up 274 passing yards, avoided giving up the chunk plays. Getting bowl eligible is still a longshot for Arkansas, but if Ryan Silverstein can eke out five wins it will go down as an outstanding coaching job. As for Vanderbilt, it’s going to be a very long season. The next three games are against ranked opponents and two of them are on the road. Then comes a roadie to Florida and the Vols to end the season. Looks like a 3-9 season any way you slice it, a major letdown after winning 10 a year ago. Texas A&M (4-3, 1-3 SEC) 41, The Citadel (2-5) 0: Maybe this win made the Aggies feel good about themselves again, but it was Citadel, a D1AA bottom feeder so the euphoria of winning will depart sometime Sunday and the reality of five straight SEC games will set in. Of the five remaining games, only Oklahoma looks winnable. Marcel Reed isn’t the only one at fault for the Aggies slide back to mediocrity, but he’s a good place to begin. He’s had a miserable senior season and it is likely to get worse. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media.

“Out in the ocean, a rope is put around a man’s neck. The other end of the rope is attached to an old jukebox and it is thrown overboard. The man invariably follows.” – From “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight,” a novel by Jimmy Breslin. This is what the Florida-Texas game (noon ET, ABC) feels like. Florida is the man with the rope around his neck. Texas is the jukebox about to be tossed overboard in waters inhabited by great white sharks several miles from the nearest beach. The Gators (4-2, 2-2 SEC) have plunged from college football’s surprise darlings to here we go again thanks to a defense that seems bent on channeling its inner Todd Grantham and an offensive line that evokes memories of batters who faced Sandy Koufax in his prime. Whiff! Texas (4-1, 1-1 SEC), meanwhile, is the jukebox. The seventh-ranked Longhorns have an offense that desperately needs to get well and who better than the worst defense in the SEC to have the same healing properties of a few days soaking in the hot springs at the Arenal volcano in Costa Rica. Texas also has a defense coordinated by Will Muschamp, who remembers all too well being dumped by the Gators in 2014 when he was the head coach. The multiple millions of buyout money have not soothed that wound. Throw in the fact that starting quarterback Aaron Philo is almost certain to be Captain Clipboard on the sidelines due to a shoulder injury and Tramell Jones Jr. will be starting his first football game since he was in high school at Mandarin over in Jacksonville. The 100,000 or so fans at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin aren’t as inhospitable to opponents as Florida fans are in The Swamp, but they will be very, very loud and well aware that Jones is attempting to avoid a deer in the headlights performance. If that isn’t bad enough, neither Vernell Brown III, Bailey Stockton nor Eric Singleton Jr. are anything close to 100 percent. Across the line of scrimmage will be a Texas defense that has given up only one sustained drive for a touchdown since halftime of the Longhorns’ win over then-No. 1 Ohio State. When they visited Tennessee, the Longhorns’ front four sacked the quarterback nine times and that was against an O-line that just a week before was being anointed as best in the country. Florida’s O-line has been sputtering like a Yugo with a cracked manifold the last couple of weeks. Will Muschamp is drooling. And then we have Florida’s defense, which effectively cures slumps by opposing offenses the way the Salk vaccine eradicated polio. Like Will Muschamp, Arch Manning is drooling. The jukebox is ready to be hurled into the ocean from the starboard side of the boat. But what happens if the change at QB results in a change in mentality that allows the Gators to revert back to their September to Remember form? Probable? Hardly. Possible? Well, anything is possible. For example, it’s possible to drive across the Colorado River in Austin to the Broken Spoke to discover they’re out of chicken fried steak with cream gravy. Possible? Yes. After all, the Red Sea was once parted and water was changed to wine. Probable? A better chance for lips to be found on chickens. Here is how The Soothsayer analyzes it. Best case scenario Saturday: Jones looks like the next Tom Brady, Jadan Baugh runs wild behind an O-line that discovered it isn’t illegal to block someone, VBIII plays and goes wild, and the defense hires an exorcist to cast out the Grantham demons that have been haunting the locker room. Worst case scenario: Muschamp’s defense has a game like Tennessee and Arch Manning avenges last year when the Gators humiliated him in The Swamp. The Sayer Says Sooth!: Texas is favored by 11.5 points. The way Muschamp’s defense has been playing, that might be all the points the Longhorns need. Arch Manning doesn’t have to have a great game, just protect the football and get a couple of touchdowns. If Texas doesn’t win by three or more TDs it might say more about Arch than it does about the UF defense having a Lazarus moment and rising from the dead. The SEC Soothsayer Auburn (3-2, 1-2 SEC) at No. 1 Georgia (6-0, 4-0 SEC): This might be Kirby Smart’s best coaching job at Georgia. He has neither the overall talent nor the depth of past Georgia teams and the Bulldogs certainly aren’t flashy. What they are is boringly consistent. They just don’t make mistakes on either side of the football. Gunner Stockton won’t bamboozle you with plays that make your heart feel like it’s going to explode through your chest and stick to the wall, but he will get the Bulldogs in the end zone early and often. Auburn may make it close for about three quarters, but eventually Georgia will wear the Tigers down. The Sayer Says Sooth!: Auburn QB Byrum Brown can make spectacular plays but he also has a habit of making spectacular goofs. The Georgia defense will bring out the worst in him and Stockton will have another one of those 250-yard, three touchdown pass kind of games. Nothing for the highlight reels but more ammo than necessary to keep Georgia on top of the polls. No. 6 Alabama (5-1, 3-1 SEC) at No. 14 Tennessee (5-1, 2-1 SEC): Except for an SEC zebra swallowing his whistle on a blatantly obvious pass interference call Alabama would be unbeaten and challenging for the No. 1 ranking. How the Crimson Tide responds to that loss to Georgia will determine if the fan base is back on Kalen DeBoer’s side or thinking he’s worn out his welcome in Tuscaloosa. A win and DeBoer stays in good but shaky graces with the Bammer Nation. Lose and it’s the 10th loss in three seasons. Nick never did that, did he? Tennessee hasn’t been nearly the same since Texas sacked Faizon Brandon nine times in a single game. Brandon is now keeping a seat on the bench toasty while George MacIntyre keeps proving why there is such a thing as Division IAA (I refuse to call it FCS just as I refuse to call Division I the FBS; dumb names both of them). The Vols don’t have the kind of QB that beats a team like Alabama and the UT offensive line, supposedly the best in the country if you listened to the September pundits, should be nicknamed The Matadors! Olé! The Sayer Says Sooth!: The pressure is all on Alabama, which looked like a team capable of playing for a national championship last week. If Bama responds in a big way this could be over by halftime. If the Tide lets Tennessee linger, and MacIntyre isn’t shell shocked, an upset is possible, something Josh Heupel needs in the worst way. DeBoer needs it worse. Bama, but brace yourself for a white knuckles finish. No. 13 Missouri (5-1, 2-1 SEC) at No. 9 Ole Miss (4-1, 2-1 SEC): Mizzou has looked capable of beating any team in the SEC the last two weeks. Of course, it’s one thing to win in CoMo, something totally different to go on the road in the SEC. The last time Mizzou did it, the Tigers were ambushed by Mississippi State. The trick Saturday will be to keep Trinidad Chambliss in the pocket and neutralize a now healthy Kewan Lacy. Florida ran all over that Ole Miss defense with Jadan Baugh looking like the second coming of Jim Brown. Missouri’s Jamal Roberts is coming off consecutive 200-yard rushing games. Can Ole Miss stop him? And how will Ole Miss deal with Austin Simmons? He was the Rebels’ starting QB when the season began a year ago only to suffer injury and lose his job to Chambliss. Can Ole Miss handle him? And, can Missouri contain Trinidad Chambliss? This has the makings of the best game of the day. The Sayer Says Sooth!: At home the nod would definitely go to Missouri, but this one is in Oxford where the Rebels are 5.5-point favorites. Missouri has the best defense but the O-line is banged up and the offense might struggle a bit. Ole Miss has Chambliss. A great game for him might be a Heisman statement. Trepidation fills the heart and mind of the Soothsayer. The heart says Mizzou. The mind wins this time and calls it for Ole Miss. No. 15 Kentucky (5-1, 3-1 SEC) at Oklahoma (3-2, 1-1 SEC): Two straight overtime wins by identical 35-34 scores have Wildcat faithful believing there is life after basketball. They’re even thinking they can go to Stormin’ Norman, Oklahoma, and whip up on the Okies. There’s only one problem with that dream. It’s called the Oklahoma defense. The Sooners might be dog’s butt ugly on offense, but there is nothing wrong with that defense, which will be the best Kentucky has seen all year. Now, that’s not to say Kentucky has no chance. They do. Any team that faces Oklahoma has a chance because John Mateer completes a lot of passes to the other team. If Oklahoma ever plays turnover free, however, the Sooners are going to become that team nobody wants to play. The Sayer Says Sooth!: Dreams have a way of dying hard when it’s been 50 years since the last time you won an SEC championship. Kentucky was SEC co-champ along with Georgia in 1976. Before that it was 1950 when Bear Bryant was the coach when Kentucky was a champion. So it’s easy to see why the fan base is fired up and dreaming big dreams. Oklahoma is favored by 6.5 points. If the Sooners get any kind of offense they might win this one by a couple of touchdowns. No. 16 Mississippi State (4-1, 2-1 SEC) at No. 22 LSU (4-2, 1-2 SEC): Kamario Taylor and Fluff Bothwell are listed questionable for this one, as in donkeys will fly before Mississippi State wins without them. If they play and they aren’t full speed it’s going to be a bad day at Black Rock for MSU. Even if they are full speed, playing LSU on the road is no picnic. The Tigers can’t afford another loss if they are to make the College Football Playoff so they should come out angry. They’re favored by 15.5 points. Imagine what the spread would be if this were a night game instead of a nooner (ESPN). The Sayer Says Sooth!: This is Lane Kiffin against one of his former offensive coordinators (Jeff Lebby). What Lebby has done at MSU is remarkable. What Lane has done at LSU has folks asking if buying out Brian Kelly for $51 million and then paying Lane $13 million was really worth it. Losing to Kentucky has that kind of effect on folks. Without Taylor and Bothwell, no chance for the Bulldogs. Arkansas (2-4, 0-3 SEC) at Vanderbilt (3-3, 0-3 SEC): This is the REPUS Bowl. That is Super spelled backwards. The loser of this one wins last place in the SEC. Arkansas had the Vols on the ropes last week only to gag on the big one in the fourth quarter. Vandy was on the receiving end of a holy hell beatdown in Oxford. Prior to that, Vandy got poleaxed by Georgia. Georgia did something similar to Arkansas earlier in the year. Vandy is at home which is why the Commodores are 6-point faves. These two teams are so bad offensively that boredom should set in sometime around the second quarter. By then the Vandy faithful will be thinking about the grapes, brie and Chardonnay in the postgame tailgate and Arkansas fans will be asking themselves why they chose this game over a night at the Grand Ole Opry. The Sayer Says Sooth!: SEC football at its worst on display for the whole wide world to see on ESPN2. Add to that an evening of having to listen to the Vandy band. That’s what is called cruel and unusual punishment. The Razorback fans will leave for the bars on Broadway believing the football program is truly at rock bottom. Vandy wins. The Hogs are doomed for life in the cellar. The Citadel (2-4) at Texas A&M (3-3, 1-3 SEC): This is a conveniently scheduled get well paycheck game for the Aggies, the single most disappointing team in the SEC and perhaps the entire country. There is nothing like a midseason blowout of a D1AA team to take the edge off a season that has a chance to finish up in Birmingham or Shreveport. The Citadel is so bad Marcel Reed might even throw something longer than a 2-yard pass. The Sayer Says Sooth!: The Aggies are favored to win by 45.5 points. Anything less than that should be deemed an upset. The euphoria of winning won’t last long. The Aggies have to go to Alabama next week. Photo: Florida players run onto the field through smoke before the South Carolina game on Oct. 10. (Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media)

Denzel Aberdeen will be in the starting lineup Sunday (2 p.m., VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena) when the public gets its first look at the preseason No. 1 Florida Gators in action against Baylor in an exhibition game. Unlike many of the athletes who have sued the NCAA for a fifth year of eligibility, Aberdeen has a rock solid legal case that should withstand the inevitable NCAA appeal. The NCAA believes it is chaos that a player who graduated high school in 2022 should be able to play a fifth year. The NCAA, in its infinite wisdom, enacted By-Law 12.6 back on Aug. 1. This “5-for-5” legislation grants five years of eligibility over five consecutive years. After passing the new rule, the NCAA announced that high school grads from 2022 will be excluded while those from 2023 onward will get the fifth year. What the NCAA failed to do was put the exclusion year in the legislation, which was the foundation of Aberdeen’s case. Alachua County Judge George M. Wright granted Aberdeen a temporary injunction allowing him to play, noting in his ruling that the NCAA failed to explicitly exclude 2022 high school grads in the by-law language and contract law does not allow for intent nor does it allow the NCAA to retroactively alter terms after the fact. Legal experts across the country have opined that the ruling by Judge Wright will withstand an appeal unlike the cases for a fifth year that are based on anti-trust case law. On Friday, the NCAA filed a lawsuit against Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, who issued an executive order that grants state of Ohio athletes from 2022 the right to compete. The NCAA argued that DeWine’s order violates provisions of the Commerce Clause. Also on Friday, a Kentucky judge granted a temporary injunction that granted more than 30 athletes a fifth year while blocking the NCAA from enforcing exclusion of 2022 grads. Earlier in the week, the 10th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals heard arguments to overturn the stay of a Colorado ruling that granted every 2022 athlete a fifth year. Expect more lawsuits and more appeals as this case makes its way through the courts. What makes this entire situation laughable is the NCAA’s insistence that allowing 2022 grads a fifth year while essentially allowing 2023 grads two years (2026-27 season and 2027-28) is causing chaos in the ranks and irreparable harm to the games. Even more interesting is the NCAA has been pushing for Congress to finalize the Protect College Sports Act. “I believe the current standing of the stance the NCAA is taking is the situation that’s causing the chaos right now,” Florida coach Todd Golden weighed in at SEC Basketball Media Days in Birmingham. “I think when you have a rule that clearly states that players get five years of eligibility within a five-year clock, you’re trying to arbitrarily carve out a class to prevent chaos when said chaos has never been shown in really any examples across America or any sports. “There’s a lot of points in this discussion that don’t make a lot of sense to us. The NCAA has marketed and spent millions of dollars promoting the Protect College Sports Act. If that were to pass, the class of ’22 athletes would be eligible to play. There’s some give-and-take to where that doesn’t make any sense, where they’re trying to prevent them from playing but in the same time arguing that this action passed in which they would be eligible.” The NCAA has chosen to fight this to the finish. Eventually, many of these cases will wind up in the United States Supreme Court where the NCAA has a track record of losing nearly every case. The common sense thing would be to stop wasting millions of dollars in billable hours by lawyers and grant athletes the extra year. However, since when has common sense been a cornerstone of any NCAA argument? Anticipated starting lineups for Florida-Baylor Florida: Alex Condon (6-11, 236, 4th); Tommy Haugh (6-9, 215, 4th); Rueben Chinyelu (6-10, 265, 4th); Denzel Aberdeen (6-5, 190, 5th); Boogie Fland (6-3, 190, 3rd) Baylor: Kayden Mingo (6-1, 195, 2nd); Dylan Mingo (6-4, 185, 1st); Brett Decker Jr. (6-0, 202, 3rd); Isaac Celiscar (6-6, 237, 3rd); Juslin Bodo Bodo (6-11, 250, 4th) Other SEC coaches’ comments about the NCAA John Calipari, Arkansas: “I don't mind kids transferring. You just can't transfer four times because it's not good for you. Four schools in four years, you'll never have a college degree, but that last place you'll be, they'll really be loyal to you. You're a mercenary … My thing with transfers, they should be able to transfer once without penalty and then after that you can transfer. Just you have to sit out, but you can transfer. I'm not saying don't transfer, but we're doing a disservice to these kids the way it's being handled right now.” Chris Beard, Ole Miss: “The new rule comes out at a weird time where players have real options and stuff. I’m not the expert on all that, but I’m just hoping at some point common sense prevails. A part of common sense would be if a guy signed a pro contract, he’s on a pro team, of course. But most of these players, like our two you mentioned, Corey (Stephenson) and Micah (Handlogten) are not pro players. They’re simply looking for the opportunity that the class before them and the class after them got. The timing of the NCAA to come out with that rule is very perplexing to me.” Rick Barnes, Tennessee: “I don’t think the NCAA should have done what they did by announcing it when they did. If they had a way, we wouldn’t be in this situation. But now I think, in my honest opinion, if one (fifth-year) guy is eligible, they should all be eligible. And it won’t play out like that. Probably not.” Chris Jans, Mississippi State: “The window has changed every year, right? The length of it, the start of it, the end of it, the whole five-for-five throws another wrench into the equation. There are a lot of things that are going to happen. The kids that redshirted last year, I had two kids, of course if I'd known it was five-for-five, we wouldn't dream of doing something like that. Who knows where all that will land in the next few years. When those kids start matriculating into getting into their fourth and fifth years, they're going to say, I got screwed over here. In terms of the chaos, the word that you used, that's what it is. I think we just understand that's the way it is. That's the work environment. You can't complain about it. Everybody is dealing with it.” Florida basketball recruiting: Eleven international players to watch Stefan Joksimovic (6-8, 200, Slovenia): Already reminding people of AJ Dybantsa. He’s just a basketball player, which is to say put him on the court and he will find a place to play. Averaged 23.1 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game at the FIBA Under 18 Euros which has NBA scouts thinking first round in next summer’s draft. It is thought that he is leaning toward at least one year in college, quite possibly at Florida since he is buddies with Urban Klavjar and Domen Petrovic. Diego Niebla (6-8, 215, Spain): Currently averaging 14.7 points and 7.0 rebounds playing in the Spanish League for Joventut Badalona. At the FIBA Under-18 Euros last summer averaged 16.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. His 3-point shooting fell off in 2026. Shot 45.5 percent on threes the year before in the Under-18 Euros. Aubrey Chunga (6-5, 200, New Zealand): As a 17-year-old averaged 10.9 points and 4.5 rebounds for the Wellington Saints. Turned 18 in February. Outstanding 3-point shooter (45 percent last year). At the FIBA Asia Under-17 last summer averaged 8.1 points and 3.1 rebounds while hitting 37.5 percent from three. Dash Daniels (6-5, 200, Australia): Younger brother of NBA star Dyson Daniels. Draft eligible in 2029 so it’s likely he will spend at least a couple of years in college. He’s always played with older players. Averaged 8.1 points and 3.1 rebounds for Australia in the FIBA Under 19 World Cup in 2025. Currently averaging 12.9 points and 5.4 rebounds in the Australian League playing for Southeast Melbourne. Papa Cheickh Niang (6-5, 212, Senegal/Italy): Averaged 16.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists for Italy in the FIBA Under 18 Euros. Just turned 18 in September. Currently averaging 7.7 points and 3.2 rebounds for Dolomiti Energia Trento in the Italian League. Excellent 3-point shooter, more of a hybrid 2-3. Klark Reithauser (6-3, 190, Switzerland): This guy is a bomber. Exceptional shooter who averaged 16.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game in the Swiss League. Shot 38 percent from the 3-point line. Cameron Houindo (6-8, 210, France): Currently playing in Slovenia. As a 17-year-old averaged 8.1 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. Will be 19 in January. Long arms, still growing, expected to top out at 6-10 and perhaps 235. Hugo Yimga Moukori (6-8, 219, France): Currently playing in the French Super League where he is averaging 11 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Playing for France in the Under-18 Euros in the summer, averaged 17.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Inconsistent 3-point shooter (28.6 percent currently) but did shoot a career-high 40.9 percent a year ago. Turned 18 back in July. Danielius Jasikevicius (5-7, 160, Lithuania): Don’t let the size fool you. Outstanding in the open court on the fast break and the best passer in Europe. At the FIBA Under-16 Euros lit up France for 21 points, six rebounds and nine assists. In the third place game against Spain, had 16 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Super quick. Can’t be pressed. Ignas Stombergas (6-10, 216, Lithuania): Won’t be 19 until February. Currently averaging 14 points and 10 rebounds per game playing for Zalgiris in the Lithuanian league. Strictly an inside guy who is an exceptional shot blocker. Andrej Pavlovic (7-0, 230, Serbia): Just turned 18 in June. Averaging 9.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in Serbia. You can’t teach tall. Big upside on both ends of the court. Archive photo courtesy UAA (University Athletic Association, FloridaGators.com). See the official Florida Gators photo galleries at FloridaGators.com.

However, let’s maybe not order the commemorative plates yet. There are worse ways to spend a Saturday than beating Texas in Austin while Texas A&M fans do the Gator Chomp. Most require bail money. Florida 27, Texas 24. Somebody turn up “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” Apparently, the Aggie band takes requests from Gator Nation now. According to KBTX Sports, the Texas A&M crowd saw the Florida-Texas score on the video board and broke into the Chomp. Now there’s your SEC brotherhood. We stand shoulder to shoulder, united in our determination to laugh when something expensive happens to the neighbors. And Florida beating Texas in its own house? That’s premium entertainment at basic-cable prices. Arch Manning entered the afternoon 11-0 at home. He left 11-1. Even a Manning occasionally has to deal with an unfriendly estate tax. You’re welcome. Naturally, this brings us to the question Florida fans have learned to approach like a strange dog: Are the Gators back? Well, they’re 5-2. They’ve beaten Texas and Ole Miss. They’ve given the rankings crowd something to discuss besides whether Florida belongs in a museum. That’s progress. Let the pollsters argue about where to put the Gators. Those are the same people who spend September certifying greatness and October explaining the accounting error. Rankings are lovely. So are those little umbrellas in tropical drinks. Neither will help you block anybody. Back as a finished product? Let’s wait up on ordering the commemorative plates. Jon Sumrall certainly isn’t going there. “We have to figure out how to suck less each week,” Florida’s coach said. “We’re not a complete team yet.” There’s a slogan unlikely to survive a meeting with the marketing department. I rather like it. After years of football explanations requiring a translator, a diagram and a prescription, here comes a coach willing to describe the merchandise without adjusting the showroom lighting. Florida can beat Texas and still have things to fix. Both statements fit comfortably inside the same locker room. Besides, Gator fans have spent enough Saturdays hearing about the encouraging signs in another discouraging loss. An imperfect victory in Austin? We’ll suffer through it. The Pro Football Focus offensive grades weren’t exactly refrigerator material. Among Florida players with at least 10 snaps, quarterback Tramell Jones led the way at 72.3. Receiver Kahleil Jackson followed at 70.8. For Tramell, that’s like telling him he got a C- after acing the final exam. 72.3? They must be grading on a pinhead, never mind a curve. How do you translate “fabulous” into numbers? Everybody else on the supplied list landed below 70. Fine. Send home a note. The scoreboard said 27-24, and nobody in burnt orange was demanding a recount based on advanced blocking metrics. Football remains a wonderful game when the people playing it occasionally interrupt the people explaining it. On defense, LJ McCray delivered the kind of afternoon Florida had been waiting for: four tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. Five stars beside your name will get you introduced. Getting into the other fellow’s backfield will get you remembered. McCray has spent enough time being discussed as potential. Saturday, he was somebody else’s problem. Meanwhile, Florida’s other prize catch, Ole Miss, beat Missouri 31-3. Trinidad Chambliss threw three touchdown passes and ran for another. That helps explain why Florida fans might prefer discussing their victories rather than apologizing for their existence. Texas and Ole Miss. Those aren’t participation ribbons. Texas, on the other hand, has developed a troublesome allergy to unranked opponents. First Oklahoma. Then Florida. According to CBS research, the Longhorns became the first team since 1961 Michigan State to enter a game ranked No. 1 in the AP poll and then lose consecutive games to unranked opponents. There’s your commemorative plate. Elsewhere in this conference of modest expectations and emotionally stable adults, Auburn beat Georgia after the Bulldogs led by 14. According to ESPN Research, Kirby Smart’s teams had been 95-3 with a two-touchdown lead, including 65-0 against unranked opponents. Georgia also had won 53 straight against unranked teams. Then Auburn showed up and spilled gravy on the good tablecloth. “Everybody can beat everybody,” Smart said. An excellent point, Kirby. Florida would like to discuss it further Oct. 31 in Atlanta. Bring your notes. And before the Gator Haters arrive with a bulletin board clipping about Billy Napier being 7-0 at James Madison, congratulations. Truly. They just beat Georgia State. Florida just beat Texas. You may use scratch paper, but that comparison should not require a calculator. Nobody is awarding the Gators a championship for winning in Austin. There’s work left. Sumrall knows it. The grades know it. The schedule has several large, unpleasant opinions about it. But Gator fans do not have to spend every happy Sunday testifying before a committee on whether they’re entitled to enjoy themselves. Gloat a little. You’ve sat through enough explanations. You’re allowed an exclamation point. Are the Gators back? We can settle that later. Saturday, they went into Texas, beat the Longhorns and got the Aggies to provide musical accompaniment. But if you decide to order the commemorative plates, send Texas the bill. Photo courtesy UAA (University Athletic Association, FloridaGators.com) and Hannah White. See more of her work on Instagram, and the official Florida Gators photo galleries at FloridaGators.com.

“What an excellent day for an exorcism.” – Linda Blair as Regan MacNeil in the 1973 film “The Exorcist” Perhaps there is a better explanation for the supernatural event that took place at Darrell K. Royal Stadium in Austin, Texas Saturday afternoon, but for the moment, it does indeed seem as if an exorcism took place either in the Florida locker room or on the sidelines. What other rationale is there? Those same Florida Gators whose defense spent the first six weeks of the season doing a dandy impersonation of a demon-possessed unit channeled their inner Doomsday, haunting Arch Manning into a game he will never forget. Other than the first two drives of the first quarter that produced a TD and a field goal and a desperation heave late in the fourth quarter that led to a touchdown that gave the game a white knuckles feel to it, the heir to the Manning throne was turned into a very ordinary quarterback. The Gators harassed Manning into poor decisions, a few bad throws and a lost fumble just when 7th-ranked Texas was in dire need of a play to fend off an upset of major proportions. Florida 27, Texas 24. How in the name of all that is sacred did the Gators manage to pull that off? How did a defense that ranked dead last in the SEC and 110th in the nation sack the heir to the fabled Manning throne five times? How did those same guys from that same defense that both Missouri and South Carolina toyed with find the fire, the passion and intensity to leave the Texas O-line in a side of the road heap gasping for air? “You know what our guys did?” Sumrall asked in the post game press conference. “They executed with more detail, more urgency, more violence, more strength. They finally took it upon themselves to play with that mentality. And since the defense was so busy re-discovering the age-old principle of beating the other team silly, Florida’s offensive line remembered its party invitations and showed up. A little late, mind you, since they spent the first quarter whiffing and flinching away, but it was timely when they, also, cast out the demons of the past two weeks helping Tramell Jones Jr. become the first Florida quarterback to win his first start on the road against a ranked team since Jesse Palmer got a notch in his belt against 6th-ranked Auburn way back in 1997. Jones played turnover free, completed 22 of his 35 passes for 155 yards and found tight end Lacota Dippre in the end zone twice for touchdowns. That vaunted Texas defense, coached up by Will Muschamp and led by national sack leader Colin Simmons, managed only one sack on Jones, so elusive in the pocket that he must have been coated with Teflon. Like the defense on those first two Texas drives and the offensive line that didn’t figure things out until the final two drives of the first quarter, Jones played like you expect a quarterback who hasn’t started a football game in two years and the O-line was busy absorbing blows from that monstrous Texas front four rather than deliver the punishment. Following a 63-yard punt return for a touchdown by All-American Ryan Niblett that gave the Longhorns a commanding 17-3 lead with 11:27 left in the first half, a jolt of lightning must have struck Jones and the Florida O-line. From that point onward, Jones was lucid, poised, decisive and in complete command of a risk-avoidance offensive game plan dialed up by Buster Faulkner. Jones spent most of the day finding open receivers for short throws, but when the Gators faced a fourth-and-12 at the Texas 36 with less than a minute to go in the first half, he delivered a 17-yard strike that Dallas Wilson caught and got both feet inbounds going against Bo Mascoe, the Longhorns’ best cover corner. On the next play after that fourth down reprieve, Jones showed his wheels with a decisive 14-yard run. Two plays later he connected with Dippre on a 7-yard pass for a touchdown that cut the Texas lead to 17-10 with 18 seconds remaining in the half. The touchdown drive to end the first half and the 15-play, 69-yard drive for a TD to start the second half were defining moments for Jones. In the first quarter he was tentative, choosing the easy throw even when there was an open receiver farther downfield. The final drive of the first half changed the entire complexion of the game. Working with a short field after Ty Jackson decleated Hollywood Smothers on a fourth-and-one, Jones took the Gators down the field 49 yards to a touchdown on nine plays, scoring on the pass to Dippre. That TD drive was huge from a psychological point of view since going from down 17-3 to within a touchdown at the half took the air out of the Longhorn faithful. To start the second half, the Gators drove methodically, taking 8:03 off the clock. Two possessions later, Jones led the Gators on another time-consuming drive, this one 14 plays for 57 yards that ate up 6:31 of clock time while carrying over into the fourth quarter, ending with a 28-yard field goal by Patrick Durkin that gave UF the lead for good. “I think he [Jones] started to do some things simple, better in the second half and just take what's there,” Sumrall said. “Don't have to do anything crazy, put the ball in play, give guys opportunities and get the ball in the hands of our playmakers.” By playing turnover free and putting the Gators in plus situations on second and third downs, it backed the Texas safeties out of the box which opened up the running game for Jadan Baugh. Held to just 72 yards combined in the losses to Missouri and South Carolina, Baugh carried 25 times for 91 yards, scoring what proved to be the game-winning touchdown on an 11-yard sweep around the right side with 6:22 left in the game. On the drive, Baugh also had a 13-yard run in which he juked a couple of defenders then ran over two more before he hit the ground. It was vintage Baugh and in large part, a statement by the O-line, whose first quarter performance was far too reminiscent of the previous two weeks. In the first quarter, the O-line struggled against the Longhorns’ space eaters up front, but they went beast mode, particularly in the third and fourth quarters. In the second half, the Gators had perfect balance, 85 yards on the ground, 85 through the air. “It's a whole lot easier to play quarterback when the O-line plays good,” Sumrall said. “And so, no matter who's the quarterback for us, when the O-line plays better, it's a lot easier to play quarterback and the last couple weeks, no secret, we haven't played very good on the O-line. This week, we played better on the O-line, so it made everything tick. Just a little bit cleaner on third down as well. We also ended up in less what felt like third and crazy extra longs today. At times where in the past, I don't have all the stats in front of me, but last week I felt like every time we looked up it was third and 12.” The long drives by the offense allowed a rested defense to dominate the second half. A 62-yard Manning to Emmett Mosley V that set up the only Texas score of the second half, accounting for all but 26 of the Longhorns’ second half yards. Florida held the ball for 46 second half plays while Texas only managed 19 snaps after the halftime break. When Texas cut the Florida lead to 27-24 and then forced a punt, the Longhorn faithful envisioned another come-from-behind win like the one against Ohio State in game two, but on second down at the Texas 48, the Gators brought the house with Myles Graham sacking Manning and forcing a fumble that Kanye Clark recovered at the UT 39. Texas still had three time outs remaining, but on third down Jones sprinted nine yards for a first down at the Texas 27, effectively ending any chance the Longhorns had of a comeback win. Three kneels from a victory formation by Jones and it was over, Florida’s first win on the road against a top-10 opponent since the Gators beat then No. 10 Florida State in Tallahassee in 2012. Make no mistake about it, this was a total team win, but considering the way the defense had played in the previous six games, their effort paved the way for the upset. Texas scored only two offensive touchdowns and managed just 272 total yards. The Gators controlled the football for 38:11 of the 60 minutes. Besides getting sacked five times for -29 yards and fumbling the ball way at the most inopportune moment, Manning was just 14-20 passing for 173 yards. Take away the one big play and he was 13-19 for 111, a miserable 5.84 per attempt. The win revived hope among a Florida fan base that viewed the second half of the season with serious trepidation. Losing two straight will do that for you. Giving up 83 points points a lot of fingers at the defense but this was their game to shine. Getting a win on the road with the backup QB getting his first collegiate start was also an emotional lift, although Sumrall once again reiterated that he believes the Gators will win games whether it’s Tramell Jones or Aaron Philo at quarterback. What he doesn’t want is for his team to lose focus just because they just beat a team that two weeks ago was ranked No. 1 nationally. “We got better today,” Sumrall said, putting it in perspective. “I think if we've learned anything about this in this game or in life, you don't get to go, yeah, it was good last week, so I get to be good next week, right? I guess part of why we got our ass kicked in Missouri and last week at home is because everybody around Gainesville was patting our guys in the back telling them how good they were. And I'm like, guys, we suck. I think I've watched this practice. We're not very good. We still suck. We just suck less. So we have to figure out how to suck less each week. But we're not like a complete team yet.” Photo: Florida defenders gang-tackle a Texas ballcarrier in Austin. (Photo courtesy UAA and Hannah White) Photo courtesy UAA (University Athletic Association, FloridaGators.com) and Hannah White. See more of her work on Instagram, and the official Florida Gators photo galleries at FloridaGators.com.

Florida finds a way to get out of Austin with a win on a day where they continue to find more about themselves every day. What We Thought All week pundits, colleagues, and casual fans alike searched for answers and gave opinions on what had happened to Jon Sumrall and the Gators the past two weeks. With the trip to Austin looming and the Gators looking its worst in all three phases, there was no reason to think that there would not be a third straight loss for the Gators. Arch Manning had been up and down all season with most of his highlights coming on a fourth quarter 21-point comeback against Ohio State. A preseason Heisman campaign had all but fallen off with late game heartbreak two late interceptions that doomed Texas in the Red River Rivalry. Unfortunately the Gator defense had been the perfect cocktail for teams coming off of tough losses the previous week. Florida was last in the SEC in pass defense and surrendering 268 yards per game. In the last two games Austin Simmons and LaNorris Sellers had bludgeoned the Gators for 619 yards and 6 touchdowns through the air. Sellers who had struggled most of the season was as elusive and dynamic as he had been all season and rediscovered himself at the hands of the Florida defense. Offensively, a running game that had Jadan Baugh headed to New York had struggled to find any footing the last two weeks and had everyone questioning Buster Faulkner’s playcalling and if Aaron Philo was the quarterback to help “wake the beast up”. The offensive line seemed to catch the most strays as a unit that was the darlings of college football after Ole Miss had many questioning the makeup of this unit as they mustered just 162 over the past two contests. Factor in a Texas defense that was ranked 3rd in the SEC and this looked to be another bad trip to 40 Acres. Finally, late last week it was revealed that Aaron Philo had suffered an injury to his throwing shoulder that meant Tramell Jones would make his first career start in one of college football’s most hostile environments. What We Got Early in the game it looked as if Florida was in for yet another disappointing outing. Texas would jump out to an early 10-0 lead and Florida once again looked to be struggling to find its footing. Early miscues and penalties would compound as Florida would give up a 63 yard punt return to Ryan Niblett in the second quarter and it looked like the rout was on. Jon Sumrall has talked to his team about being in the moment and while he downplayed the significance of the “middle eight,” Florida seemed to understand that going into the half down 14 points was not a good proposition for an upset. Tramell Jones had played well up to the 2:36 mark of the half but three points was all that the Florida offense had been able to muster. What was evident was that the mobility of Jones looked to be much more pronounced than Philo and that this drive would need his feet more than any. A fourth down stop by the Florida defense left Florida with just 49 yards to score and plenty of time to do it. Jones would have a key 14-yard scamper on the drive and two plays later found Lacota Dippre for a 7-yard touchdown to pull the Gators within seven at the half. The second half would belong to Florida who came out with a balanced 15-play drive that took up over half of the third quarter and was capped by another Jones to Dippre connection where Jones eluded the rush and stepped up to find Dippre in the middle of the end zone. As impressive as the drive was the time of possession may have been the most impressive as it was more than 10 minutes of game time that Arch Manning and the Texas offense had been on the sideline. The Florida defense was improved with the Gators limiting big runs and explosive throws by timely run blitzes and secondary play that challenged the Texas receivers. Ryan Wingo and Cam Coleman are two of the nation’s best playmakers and the Gators held the duo to just 8 catches for 67 yards. While the Gator corners had been under scrutiny all season, they showed up big in key moments against two future pros. Ultimately the game came down to three key plays. After sack of Manning on the Texas 48, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian opted to go for it on 4th and 2 instead of punting to pin the Gators deep. The next play was a stop of Manning for three yard loss by tackle Brendan Bett giving the Gators another short field which would lead to a Florida score to put the Gators up 27-17. Texas would find a way to get points on the next drive and force a Florida punt to set up a game winning drive for Arch Manning and Texas. What followed was another big time defensive play for the Gators that had been missing for the last two weeks. On 2nd and 8 from the Texas 48 Florida would bring a six man pressure that mixed the picture up for Manning who would be sacked by Myles Graham and fumble the ball that was recovered by nickelback Kanye Clark. Florida would run two plays forcing Texas to use two of their time-outs leaving the Gators with a 3rd and 7 from the Texas 36. While many were expecting a Jadan Baugh run or Jones throw, it was the feet of Jones again that provided the final nail in the Texas coffin. Jones pulled the ball from the belly of Baugh and made two Texas defenders miss on his way to a nine yard gain and the Gator win. The Skinny What is clear is that Florida has found the right guy to lead them back to prominence. It is also clear that he is totally aware of who and what his team is and where they need to improve. Jon Sumrall has taken a lot of questions regarding the X and O’s of his football team but the real juice is in the people and his trust in them to continuously do the work to improve. Forget the play calls on both sides of the ball, forget who was playing quarterback give Buster Faulkner and crew credit for getting Jones ready to play and Brad White for getting his bruised unit back off the mat to fight and fight again. Sumrall makes no secret that the Gators have a long way to go, but he also is clear that while Jones mobility may add another dimension the offense Aaron Philo has made enough plays at big moments to warrant a stay of a permanent change at quarterback. Regardless of who takes the snaps, the mention of recruiting in the off week and a focus on the team’s overall health is what lays foremost on his mind after what many would define as a season-saving win. This was a win that Florida needed, but even at 6-0 would have needed still. The 1-0 mentality works for Sumrall and that mentality is what allows this team to prepare and show up regardless of what happened seven days before. Football matters again at Florida, and for the first time in a while to those inside the building as well. Final Score: Florida 27 Texas 24 (Prediction Texas 31 Florida 14) Photo courtesy UAA (University Athletic Association, FloridaGators.com) and Hannah White. See more of her work on Instagram, and the official Florida Gators photo galleries at FloridaGators.com.

Parody or parity? By Buddy Martin gatorbaitmedia.com They have thrown out the bathwater and now they’re coming for the baby! Apparently, there is nothing sacred left about college football, or the SEC. That’s the way one side looks at it. The other side, led by the Matt Barrie of the world, thinks we are in the throes of the “greatest football” weeks in history. Me, I worry that the scavengers have come for what’s left of college football. As Nick Saban has said, it used to be more important for the Southern teams to win the SEC than the national championship. The preservation of that tradition seems more important than the money. But then there is this: ESPN reported that replacing the SEC championship game alone required accounting for an event generating roughly $80 million to $100 million. I have generally found that when they say “it’s not about the money,” it is, indeed, about the money. I’m not buying that this playoff on steroids is good for all of college football. Once they started trying to fix college football, they broke it worse. Does this new 24-team playoff not have the fingerprints of the Big Ten all over it? Well, you betcha, Tony Petitti! But your side has been holding serve now for three years, so I guess it’s losers walk. A parody is a humorous or satirical imitation of a specific work, author or style, created to mock, critique or comment on the original. Sometimes this whole thing feels like a mockery. My take: The SEC hasn’t lost excellence. It has lost some of its monopoly on excellence, and a 24-team playoff threatens to make the distinction between “excellent” and “merely pretty good” matter less. Those are related problems, but they aren’t the same problem. One important clarification on recent news: ESPN reports that a deal for a 24-team playoff beginning in 2027 is nearing completion, pending final approvals. It is not yet a finalized format. The expected changes include eliminating Power Four championship games and starting the season a week earlier. Have we lost our respect and reverence for tradition? What’s wrong with the SEC? First, the decline at the very top is real, not merely nostalgia for when every September came with an Alabama national championship reservation. Entering this season, the SEC had gone three consecutive seasons without winning a national championship, or even putting a team in the championship game. That followed a stretch of 13 national titles in 17 seasons. Against that standard, a good conference can look like a fallen empire. But I would separate three things: A conference with several good teams. A conference with one or two genuinely great teams. A conference whose reputation makes us assume those great teams must be there. The SEC built its reputation by delivering the second. Sometimes we now give it credit for the second merely because it has the first. This season’s evidence doesn’t suggest excellence has vanished entirely. The Athletic’s Oct. 11 assessment had Georgia at 6-0, followed by Alabama at 5-1 and Texas at 4-1, with Georgia clearly favored in its conference-title projections. That looks more like an uneven league with a leading contender than a league devoid of quality. Why don’t more teams look great? Talent is harder to stockpile. NIL and transfer freedom have loosened the traditional powers’ grip on recruiting and roster retention. ESPN’s examination of the SEC’s championship drought and Yahoo’s recent assessment of conference parity both identify that redistribution as an important explanation. It is harder to build an overwhelming machine when the players who would once have supplied its second wave can find money and playing time elsewhere. That can improve competition without improving the best team. More competitive Saturdays and fewer dominant teams can coexist. The schedule complicates the picture The SEC’s nine-game conference schedule arrived this season, adding another league opponent to the annual test. That makes records harder to compare with those from the eight-game era. But “we beat each other up” cannot become a permanent exemption from scrutiny. A close conference game might mean two excellent teams collided. It might also mean neither could take control. Conference membership doesn’t settle that argument; performance does. We sometimes confuse parity with quality Parity tells us the teams are closer together. It does not tell us how high the ceiling is. Is everybody capable of beating somebody, or is somebody capable of beating everybody? Would 24 teams diminish excellence further? It would diminish the requirement for sustained excellence more than excellence itself. An outstanding team would still be outstanding. But the system would ask fewer teams to demonstrate that quality week after week before granting them a championship opportunity. The proposed field under discussion includes 19 at-large selections, the four Power Four conference champions as determined by their leagues, and the highest-ranked Group of Six team. Final details remain unannounced. That creates several concerns. 1. More chances to recover mean fewer occasions when losing is decisive There is a legitimate benefit: More fan bases would have meaningful postseason stakes later in the season. But there is a cost at the top. If a contender can absorb another defeat without seriously endangering qualification, that defeat carries less championship consequence. Seeding can preserve incentives; it cannot completely reproduce the jeopardy of elimination. The important distinction is between making more games relevant to the bracket and making the biggest games more consequential. Expansion can accomplish the first while weakening the second. My concern is what follows culturally: Programs could sell a playoff appearance as evidence of excellence when it might represent a respectable season rather than an exceptional one. Conversely, some schools could begin treating otherwise respectable seasons as failures simply because they missed an enlarged field. More participation does not necessarily produce a more sensible definition of success. 2. Losing conference championship games would remove a distinct achievement Under the deal ESPN describes, Power Four championship games are expected to disappear, although leagues would still determine champions for playoff qualification. Ugh! A conference championship ought to have meaning beyond its usefulness in arranging the national bracket. My objection isn’t that the existing title games are perfect. It’s that eliminating them makes the sport even more exclusively about one postseason tournament. There should be room in college football for a season to mean something other than “advanced” or “eliminated.” 3. The strongest argument against expansion isn’t that every underdog will lose Some lower seeds would win. An upset would be exciting. Neither point answers whether 24 is the right number. The better question is: What problem does doubling the field solve that is important enough to justify changing the value of the regular season? The financial incentive is substantial. During negotiations, ESPN reported that replacing the SEC championship game alone required accounting for an event generating roughly $80 million to $100 million. Revenue and compensation for lost championship games were central to the SEC’s position. Title games outdraw the first round: average TV audiences for the playoff rounds and the conference title games a 24-team plan would drop. Graphic: GatorBait Media That doesn’t automatically make expansion wrong. But it does mean “better championship competition” and “more valuable television inventory” should not be treated as interchangeable goals. The SEC’s challenge is to produce teams that restore its competitive authority. Expanding the playoff could give the conference more places to put teams without answering whether those teams are truly exceptional. That’s the danger: not that excellence disappears, but that college football becomes less demanding about who gets to claim it.

By Brenden Martin Cover photo: Chris Spears / GatorBait Media. 2026 SEASON GUIDE · Updated Oct. 18, 2026 One place for Florida's full football roster, results and the road ahead. Bookmark this guide; GatorBait's football coverage links back here throughout the season. 5–2 overall · 3–2 SEC 2026 schedule & results NEXT: vs. Georgia (Atlanta) · Saturday, Oct. 31 · 3:30 p.m. ET · ABC All times Eastern. Open date: Oct. 24. Kickoff windows for later games are not final start times. Date Opponent Result / kickoff Sept. 5 vs. Florida Atlantic W 66–21 Sept. 12 vs. Campbell W 52–3 Sept. 19 at Auburn W 44–39 Sept. 26 vs. Ole Miss W 52–28 Oct. 3 at Missouri L 17–45 Oct. 10 vs. South Carolina L 19–38 Oct. 17 at Texas W 27–24 Oct. 24 Open date No game Oct. 31 vs. Georgia (Atlanta) NEXT · 3:30 p.m. ET · ABC Nov. 7 vs. Oklahoma Flex (3:30-4:30 p.m. or 6-8 p.m.) ET · TV TBA Nov. 14 at Kentucky Night (6-8 p.m.) ET · TV TBA Nov. 21 vs. Vanderbilt Early (12-1 p.m.) ET · TV TBA Nov. 27 at Florida State 3:30 p.m. ET · ABC Home games are played in Gainesville. The Georgia game is at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Source: Florida’s official 2026 football schedule. Checked Oct. 18, 2026. Times and TV assignments may change. 2026 player roster All 117 players listed on Florida’s official 2026 roster, organized by position. Tap a player’s name for the official bio. This is a roster, not a depth chart or an availability report. Some offensive and defensive players share jersey numbers. Quarterbacks No. Player Year 9 Tramell Jones Jr. So. 10 Aaron Williams Jr. 11 Will Griffin Fr. 12 Aaron Philo Jr. 16 Aidan Warner Sr. Running backs No. Player Year 13 Jadan Baugh Jr. 20 Duke Clark So. 21 Evan Pryor 6th 24 London Montgomery Sr. 25 Anthony Rubio Sr. 27 Byron Louis So. 33 Brian Case So. 34 Kelvin Jimenez Jr. Wide receivers No. Player Year 1 Vernell Brown III So. 2 Eric Singleton Jr. Sr. 3 Bailey Stockton Sr. 4 TJ Abrams Jr. 5 Micah Mays Jr. Sr. 6 Dallas Wilson So. 14 Jaden Edgecombe Sr. 18 Davian Groce Fr. 19 Jaylen Lloyd Sr. 22 Kahleil Jackson 7th 81 Mason Jordan Fr. 82 Ace Ciongoli So. 83 Justin Williams Fr. 88 Marquez Daniel Fr. Tight ends No. Player Year 7 Amir Jackson Jr. 15 Luke Harpring Jr. 17 Lacota Dippre Sr. 80 Jaylen Jordon 5th 84 Micah Jones So. 85 Evan Chieca Sr. 86 Heze Kent Fr. 89 Tripp Brown Jr. Fr. Offensive line No. Player Year 50 Jason Zandamela Jr. 51 Tyler Chukuyem Fr. 52 Harrison Moore Jr. 53 Bryce Lovett Sr. 54 Javarii Luckas Fr. 55 TJ Dice Jr. So. 56 Jahari Medlock So. 59 Corey Brown Fr. 61 G'Nivre Carr Fr. 63 Caden Jones Sr. 64 Eagan Boyer Jr. 66 Emeka Ugorji So. 67 TJ Shanahan Jr. Sr. 68 Fletcher Westphal Jr. 71 Roderick Kearney Sr. 73 Daniel Pierre Louis So. 76 Mark Faircloth Jr. 77 Knijeah Harris Sr. 78 Desmond Green Fr. 79 Chancellor Campbell Fr. Defensive line No. Player Year 11 LJ McCray Jr. 24 Kamran James Sr. 40 Jayden Gross Fr. 49 Jalen Wiggins So. 56 Stive-Bentley Keumajou-Yondui Fr. 90 Brendan Bett Sr. 91 Jeramiah McCloud So. 92 Sebastian Scott Sr. 93 DK Kalu Sr. 94 Kendall Guervil Fr. 95 Jamari Lyons 5th 96 JaReylan McCoy Fr. 97 Joseph Mbatchou So. 98 Mason Clinton Sr. 99 Emmanuel Oyebadejo 5th JACK No. Player Year 0 Jayden Woods So. 14 KJ Ford Fr. 17 Titus Bullard Jr. 22 Kofi Asare 5th 48 Erich Seager Jr. 55 Charles Emanuel III Jr. Inside linebackers No. Player Year 5 Myles Graham Jr. 7 Ty Jackson So. 8 Aaron Chiles Jr. 16 TJ Bullard 5th 29 Jaden Robinson Sr. 42 Matthew Kade Jr. 44 Myles Johnson So. 50 Malik Morris Fr. 52 Dylan Leighton So. Cornerbacks No. Player Year 3 Onis Konanbanny So. 6 J'Vari Flowers So. 12 Ben Hanks III So. 15 CJ Bronaugh Fr. 21 CJ Hester Fr. 23 Javier Jones Jr. 25 Cormani McClain Sr. 26 Jordy Lowery 5th 27 Dijon Johnson Sr. 36 Vincent Brown Jr. Sr. 37 Javion Toombs 5th Safeties No. Player Year 1 Bryce Thornton Sr. 2 Lagonza Hayward So. 9 Drake Stubbs So. 10 Cam Dooley Jr. 32 Eric Parks Fr. 33 DJ Coleman Sr. 34 Kaiden Hall Fr. 35 Brayden Slade Sr. 43 Alfonzo Allen Jr. 5th STAR No. Player Year 20 Kanye Clark Sr. 28 Elijah Owens So. 30 Dylan Purter Fr. Kickers No. Player Year 40 Brandon Rabasco Jr. 41 Liam Padron Jr. 91 Patrick Durkin Jr. Punters No. Player Year 38 Alec Clark Sr. 47 Miller Fealy Jr. 48 Nicholas Inglis Jr. Long snappers No. Player Year 39 Carter Milliron 5th 54 Lincoln Anderson Fr. 58 Hunter Solwold So. Year abbreviations follow UF’s roster: Fr. = freshman; So. = sophomore; Jr. = junior; Sr. = senior; 5th, 6th and 7th = fifth, sixth and seventh year. Source: Florida’s official 2026 football roster. Names, numbers, positions and years checked October 8, 2026. Keep reading Latest GatorBait coverage · GatorBait Magazine · GatorBait TV

AUSTIN, Texas — Florida walked into Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday with a backup quarterback making his first career start, fell behind 17-3, and walked out with the win of its season. The Gators (5-2, 3-2 SEC) scored 24 straight points and held on to beat No. 7 Texas 27-24, sealed late when Myles Graham sacked Arch Manning and knocked the ball loose, and Kanye Clark fell on it at the Texas 39. Tramell Jones Jr. got the start with Aaron Philo out and played every snap. His moment came just before halftime. Down 17-3 after a 63-yard punt-return touchdown by Ryan Niblett, Jones converted a fourth-and-12 to Dallas Wilson, added a 14-yard keeper, and found Lacota Dippre for a 7-yard touchdown with 18 seconds left in the half. Florida went to the locker room down 17-10 instead of buried. The second half belonged to the Gators. Jones hit Dippre again from 8 yards out to tie it at 17, finishing a 15-play, 69-yard drive that ate 8:03 of the third quarter. While the offense ground Texas down, the defense held Texas scoreless in the third quarter. Patrick Durkin's 28-yard field goal with 10:40 to play gave Florida its first lead, 20-17. Then Jadan Baugh delivered the haymaker: an 11-yard touchdown run with 6:22 left that made it 27-17. Baugh finished with 25 carries for 91 yards, and Durkin was perfect on the day, hitting from 45 and 28 and going 3-for-3 on extra points. Texas made it interesting late. Manning hit Emmett Mosley V for 62 yards and found Cam Coleman for a 9-yard touchdown with 4:21 remaining to cut it to 27-24. The Longhorns got the ball back with a chance to tie or win. That is when Graham ended it. On second down, he got to Manning for a sack and stripped the ball. Clark's recovery let Florida run out the clock on the road. Dippre caught both of Jones's touchdown passes. Florida has now beaten Texas in back-to-back seasons. The Gators are 5-2 and play Georgia on Oct. 31 with a road win over a top-10 team that changes the shape of their season. Watch: postgame clips from Austin Baugh: “Tramell is going to be a great quarterback.” Jadan Baugh on Tramell Jones Jr.’s first career start. Sumrall: “We still suck. We just suck less.” Florida 27, No. 7 Texas 24, after a 17-3 hole. Photo courtesy UAA (University Athletic Association, FloridaGators.com) and Hannah White. See more of her work on Instagram, and the official Florida Gators photo galleries at FloridaGators.com.

The Texas pregame magazine is live in a phone-friendly layout. Buddy Martin’s cover story on the quarterback question, “Who’s QB1 in Austin?”, leads the issue. Franz Beard writes on Tramell Jones Jr.’s opening and brings the Soothsayer’s picks for Saturday in the SEC, and the issue carries the full preview of Florida at No. 7 Texas.

Well, the low scoring Longhorns have their struggles, too. I wrote earlier in the week about the similarities of the stats between UF and UM last weekend in every category but the one that matters. Facing the Texas Longhorns on the road in Austin is a tough task for a team that hasn't played well in the last two weeks. The Gators hit the road as a 10.5-point underdog. Is there anything that points to a possible Gator victory? The Gators will face the #3 total defense in the SEC in the Will Muschamp led Texas defense. They are ranked either third or fourth in the conference in every category. They are the #13 ranked defense in college football. That task is a daunting task by itself. Throw in the possibility of having Tramell Jones Jr. making his first road SEC start and the hill gets a little higher. Add in the uncertainty of Vernell Brown III and the health of Eric Singleton and the road gets even more steep. The offense couldn't gain any traction on the road in Columbia, Mo. and didn't do much better against the guys from Columbia e East. Jadan Baugh hasn't looked like a Heisman contender in weeks. The offensive line has struggled to move anyone off the ball and protect the pocket. Buster Faulkner has cost himself a lot of money after being the wonder coach for the first four games by not being able to come up with a successful scheme. All those signs point to a very bad road experience for Gator fans heading to Texas. The numbers that give the Gators any hope are on the other side of the ball. Florida's defense has given up more than 20 points in every game except against the Fighting Camels. Texas hasn't scored 30 against a good opponent yet. Maybe Florida isn't a good opponent either, but I think the Hirns are good, not great. exas is ranked in the bottom half of the conference in every offensive category. If the Longhorns hadn't pulled off an incredible 4th quarter rally against the Buckeyes, aided by some conservative play calling by OSU, they would be 3-2 heading into the game on Saturday. Arch Manning has thrown 5 interceptions and only 10 TDs while throwing for 1122 yards. That's about the same average as Philo per game. Their leading rusher is Hollywood Smothers. His 237 yards on 53 carries would make him third on the Gators' rushing list behind Baugh with 672 and Clark with 265 yards. Maybe the lower rushing yards mean they just gain most of the yards through the air? Not really. Their leading receiver is Cam Coleman who has 318 yards on 17 catches with 5 TDs. Dallas Wilson has 376 yards for the Gators on 26 catches. What do all those numbers add up to? Nothing if the Gator offense can't find its way back from the poor performances of the last two weeks. But if they can find a spark of life, the Gator defense doesn't have to be great, just average against the weaker Texas offense for the Gators to pull the upset. If the Gators can find a way to stop the run and get just a little pressure on Manning, history says he will turn the ball over a couple of times. That may be just the thing Florida needs to leave the 40 acres with a victory. That's asking a lot for a unit that hasn't been very good so far this year. It's not likely, but it is possible. There is a chance for Florida to beat Texas if the Gators can score 30 points or hold Texas to under 20. One of those looked like a lock only three weeks ago! Now chances appear to be somewhere between Slim and None. Has Slim already left for Austin? Photo: Chris Spears / Gator Bait Media