Florida Gators start unranked in preseason AP Top 25 poll for second straight year

By Adam Silverstein
August 23, 2015

Coming off their first national tile in more than a decade, the Ohio State Buckeyes became the first team in history to receive a unanimous preseason No. 1 ranking in the AP Top 25 poll, which has been around since 1950. The Buckeyes also received 62 of 64 possible first-place votes in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll.

The Florida Gators, on the other hand, will enter the season unranked in both polls for the second straight season. Florida opens the 2015 season in the 36th spot in the AP Top 25 and 48th spot in the Coaches’ Poll. The Gators were one of 11 teams to receive AP votes (four) and one of 13 to be on the ballots of coaches (two).

As such, it is the second time since 2003 that the Gators have not been ranked by AP voters to open the season, and the second time since USA Today took over the Coaches Poll in 1991 that Florida is unranked in its preseason edition.


The eight Southeastern Conference teams ranked by AP voters and coaches this preseason – three in the top 10 of each poll – include: Alabama (3/3), Auburn (6/7), Georgia (9/9), LSU (14/13), Ole Miss (17/15), Arkansas (18/20), Missouri (24/23) and Tennessee (25/25).

Overall, 10 SEC teams ranked among the top 27 vote-getters in both polls with Mississippi State and Texas A&M checking in the next two positions.

UF will face six teams ranked in the preseason AP Top 25, five in consecutive weeks: No. 25 Tennessee (Sept. 26), No. 17 Ole Miss (Oct. 3), No. 24 Missouri (Oct. 10), No. 14 LSU (Oct. 17), No. 9 Georgia (Oct. 31) and No. 10 Florida State (Nov. 28)


AP Top 25
Preseason 1-5: Ohio State (61), TCU, Alabama, Baylor, Michigan State
6-10: Auburn, Oregon, USC, Georgia, Florida State
11-15: Notre Dame, Clemson, UCLA, LSU, Arizona State
16-20: Georgia Tech, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Wisconsin
21-25: Stanford, Arizona, Boise State, Missouri, Tennessee

Others Receiving Votes
Mississippi State 100; Texas A&M 61; Oklahoma State 46; Virginia Tech 42; Utah 36; Penn State 20; Louisville 12; Cincinnati 8; Nebraska 6; Kansas State 5; Florida 4; NC State 4; Texas 3; BYU 2; Michigan 2; Northern Illinois 2; Cal 1; Western Kentucky 1; West Virginia 1

USA Today Coaches’ Poll
Preseason 1-5: Ohio State (62), TCU (1), Alabama (1), Baylor, Oregon
6-10: Michigan State, Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, USC
11-15: Notre Dame, Clemson, LSU, UCLA, Ole Miss
16-20: Arizona State, Georgia Tech, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Arkansas
21-25: Stanford, Arizona, Missouri, Boise State, Tennessee

Others Receiving Votes
Mississippi State 164; Texas A&M 149; Oklahoma State 89; Virginia Tech 70; Utah 40; Kansas State 37; Louisville 27; Nebraska 27; Minnesota 25; Penn State 20; South Carolina 18; Miami (Fla.) 16; Texas 8; Illinois 7; Duke 6; Air Force 5; Louisiana Tech 5; Marshall 4; Utah State 4; West Virginia 3; North Carolina State 3; Brigham Young 3; Florida 2; Georgia Southern 2; North Carolina 2; Maryland 1; Michigan 1; Kentucky 1; Central Florida 1; Cincinnati 1; Washington 1

Seven SEC coaches will be voting in the coaches’ poll this season: Gus Malzahn (Auburn), Les Miles (LSU), Gary Pinkel (Missouri), Mark Richt (Georgia), Nick Saban (Alabama), Steve Spurrier (South Carolina), Kevin Sumlin (Texas A&M)

Miles, Richt, Saban and Spurrier all voted in 2013 and 2014 with Pinkel and Sumlin also voting in 2014.

Coaches from five of UF’s 12 opponents will be voting: Miles, Pinkel, Richt, Spurrier, Jimbo Fisher (Florida State)

7 Comments

  1. 1974Gator says:

    Who is ranked where this time of year is useless and irrelevant. Let’s play football! It will work itself out.

  2. Thank you Mr. Foley!!

  3. Dave Massey says:

    Nothing unexpected here. No place to go but up. Time to prove ourselves.

  4. SW FL Joe says:

    Well we might not be ranked but our mascots are on tinder. Take that Brutus Buckeye!

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