It was an ugly scene in Austin last Saturday when the Texas Longhorns handily defeated the Florida Gators in the two schools’ first meeting as members of the Southeastern Conference — not to mention the last 84 years.
The Gators were missing a myriad of key playmakers from its roster in Week 11, including both of its top two starting quarterbacks as well as one of their best wide receivers. The attrition extended to the defensive side of the ball as well, where Billy Napier’s team had been making incremental improvements before last weekend.
The long and the short of it is that the ‘Horns made the Gators look overmatched — make no mistake, they were — and the results were reflected in the polls and rankings following the rout.
Florida football’s SP+ ranking, rating
Among them is ESPN’s SP+ put together by Bill Connelly, which dropped the Orange and Blue from No. 26 last week out of 134 Football Bowl Subdivision schools with a 13.0 overall rating to No. 39 with a 6.9 rating.
On offense, the team fell from No. 20 and a 34.4 rating to No. 33 with a 31.6 rating. The defense also saw a decline, dropping from No. 41 with a 23.2 rating to No. 49 — though they did gain 1.8 points to earn a 25.0 rating.
The special teams unit, which spent a few weeks as the top-rated corps in the country at the start of the schedule, fell from a 0.4 rating for the first time this season to 0.3, dropping Florida from No. 4 to No. 25.
SP+ rankings top 10 teams
The Ohio State Buckeyes maintain the top spot in the rankings for the second straight week, edging out the Longhorns who remain in second place as well. The Oregon Ducks, Ole Miss Rebels and Alabama Crimson Tide follow behind, respectively to round out the top five.
The Georgia Bulldogs come in at No. 6, followed by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Penn State Nittany Lions, Tennessee Volunteers and Miami Hurricanes, respectively, to wrap up the top 10 schools.
About SP+ predictions
“SP+ is intended to be predictive…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Football | Gators Wire…