Florida football slips again in SP+ rankings after Week 12 loss at Ole Miss Rebels
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Another week, another loss for the Florida football program.
This time around, the Ole Miss Rebels outplayed the Gators to the tune of a 34-24 victory despite a solid effort for three-plus quarters from the Orange and Blue. Now saddled with seven losses, the team has no hope of playing past the final game of the regular-season schedule and is locked in for the fourth losing season in the last five years.
There have been much better days in Gainesville, that is for sure. But between changing head coach horses midstream and a brutal rash of injuries to key players — plus DJ Lagway’s continued struggles under center — it has been a fall to forget for Florida.
Predictably, the Gators remain voteless in both major polls and continue to fall down the computer-based rankings as well, including this week’s SP+ rankings from ESPN’s Bill Connelly.
Where Florida ranks according to SP+ after Week 12
As a result of the road loss to the Rebels, the Gators fell two spots from No. 48 to No. 50 in the SP+ rankings after Week 12. That puts Florida between the No. 49 Kansas Jayhawks and No. 51 Arizona State Sun Devils — just barely among the top 50 teams.
The team’s overall SP+ rating dropped from 6.2 last week to 5.4 this week — a 0.8-point slip — with the offense remaining at 26.3, which moves them up one spot to No. 71 in the nation. Florida’s defensive metric actually rose 0.9 points from 20.6 to 21.5, but continues falling in the rankings from No. 30 to No. 36; special teams picked up a tenth of a point for a 0.6 rating, which moved them up six spots to No. 12.
ESPN’s Week 12 SP+ top 25 rankings
| Team | Rating | Offense | Defense | Spec Tms | Rk Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Ohio St. (10-0) | 31.4 | 39.8 (7) | 8.7 (1) | 0.4 (39) | +0 |
| 2. Indiana (11-0) | 30.0 | 40.7 (2) | 11.1 (2) | 0.4 (32) | +0 |
| 3. Texas Tech (10-1) | 28.8 | 40.8 (1) | 12.4 (4) | 0.4 (33) | +1 |
| 4. Oregon (9-1) | 26.6 | 38.4 (10) | 12.1 (3) | 0.4 (37) | -1 |
| 5. Notre Dame (8-2) | 22.5 | 39.1 (9) | 16.6 (13) | 0.0 (65) | +1 |
| 6. Georgia (9-1) | 22.4 | 38.0 (11) | 16.3 (11) | 0.7 (1) | +4 |
| 7. Ole Miss (10-1) | 21.8 | 39.5 (8) | 18.3 (19) | 0.7 (2) | +1 |
| 8. Utah (8-2) | 21.5 | 36.7 (15) | 15.2 (8) | 0.0 (68) | -1 |
| 9. Texas A&M (10-0) | 21.3 | 40.5 (4) | 19.2 (23) | 0.0 (77) | -4 |
| 10. Miami (8-2) | 19.9 | 36.0 (17) | 16.6 (12) | 0.5 (20) | +3 |
| 11. Alabama (8-2) | 19.9 | 35.3 (19) | 15.1 (7) | -0.3 (96) | +0 |
| 12. Oklahoma (8-2) | 19.2 | 32.5 (37) | 13.8 (5) | 0.5 (18) | -3 |
| 13. USC (8-2) | 18.5 | 39.9 (6) | 21.5 (37) | 0.2 (52) | -1 |
| 14. Tennessee (7-3) | 17.3 | 40.2 (5) | 23.4 (48) | 0.4 (31) | +3 |
| 15. Iowa (6-4) | 16.3 | 30.4 (51) | 14.5 (6) | 0.4 (38) | +0 |
| 16. Missouri (7-3) | 16.3 | 34.4 (22) | 17.7 (16) | -0.5 (113) | +3 |
| 17. BYU (9-1) | 16.1 | 33.8 (26) | 18.2 (18) | 0.5 (13) | +5 |
| 18. Vanderbilt (8-2) | 16.1 | 38.0 (12) | 22.5 (44) | 0.6 (7) | -2 |
| 19. Penn St. (4-6) | 15.8 | 34.4 (23) | 19.2 (22) | 0.6 (5) | +1 |
| 20. Washington (7-3) | 15.7 | 33.8 (25) | 17.7 (15) | -0.4 (107) | +1 |
| 21. Texas (7-3) | 15.7 | 30.8 (47) | 15.3 (9) | 0.2 (51) | -7 |
| 22. Michigan (8-2) | 14.6 | 30.4 (52) | 15.4 (10) | -0.5 (118) | -4 |
| 23. Illinois (7-3) | 13.9 | 35.7 (18) | 22.4 (42) | 0.6 (4) | +0 |
| 24. N. Texas (9-1) | 12.4 | 40.7 (3) | 28.3 (77) | 0.0 (66) | +3 |
| 25. JMU (9-1) | 12.4 | 32.7 (33) | 19.9 (25) | -0.4 (105) | +12 |
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida football’s SP+ rankings after Week 12 loss at Ole Miss
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