Final 2025 ranking of Florida's 7 college football teams. Who's last?

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Final 2025 ranking of Florida's 7 college football teams. Who's last?

Well, they’ve got thisgoing for them.

True, the Miami Hurricanes, generally considered among the 12 best teams in college football, might get aced out of the 12-team College Football Playoff. They need some help from others to make the dominoes fall in a happy order.

But if they don’t, cheer up Hurricane faithful. At least you ended the season as No. 1 atop our weekly ranking of Florida’s seven big-league football programs. Not all of them behaved as big-leaguers this season, but that’ll happen when folks spend three-plus months tossing and kicking an oblong ball.

It was that kind of season for Mike Norvell, and his Seminoles were

You’ll notice how the Seminoles managed to finish below a pair of teams with worse records. That’s because we put a decent amount of emphasis on both current trends and a team’s results versus a team’s expectations. Let’s just say, beating Alabama in Week 1 and taking a complete pratfall at season’s end are both duly noted.

There was a lot of southbound movement in both trends and expectations, but at the very end, when it came time for final impressions, FSU leapt from the bay door without a chute. That was a special kind of bad, and they have to pay the price.

But do you want to know the biggest reason the ‘Noles are ranked seventh here? Because we don’t have eight teams.

1. Miami Hurricanes (10-2)

Last week: beat Pitt, 38-7. FYI: First of all, for the ’Canes: “Go Duke!” UM’s playoff chances expand greatly by keeping Virginia out of the playoffs, which happens if Duke beats the Cavs Saturday for the ACC championship even though neither team played Miami this year and Miami is probably better than UVA and definitely better than Duke. Got all that? There are other scenarios, but we haven’t caught our breath from the previous one. 

2. USF Bulls (9-3)

Last week: beat Rice, 52-3. FYI: A bit of a flea-flicker from Alex Golesh, who knows of such things. Everyone was focused on Oklahoma State and Arkansas, and just like that, he finds Auburn open over the middle. Meanwhile, USF is hiring Brian Hartline, Ohio State’s offensive coordinator and former Miami Dolphins receiver. His eventual dream likely involves someday returning to his alma mater as Head Buckeye, so he needs to build on Golesh’s success in Tampa.

3. FIU Panthers (7-5)

Last week: beat Sam Houston, 56-16. FYI: A year from now, don’t be shocked to see Head Panther Willie Simmons on the twirling carousel of coaching hires. If you judge a coach by how well his teams did before he got there and after he left, and if you look at the before-and-after of Prairie View, Florida A&M and now FIU, Simmons seems destined to become a target for a bigger program. He was 45-13 in five years at FAMU and has produced winning records in all nine seasons coached.

4. UCF Knights (5-7)

Last week: lost to BYU, 41-21. FYI: Does any coach hate the New World Order more than Scott Frost? He seemingly never misses a chance to bemoan the upheaval. “The game’s in a bad place right now,” he said at season’s end, pointing out how player agents have been shopping their wares to needy suitors for much of the season’s second half. 

5. Florida Gators (4-8)

Last week: beat FSU, 40-21. FYI: The hiring of Dave Caldwell as football GM should be viewed as important as the hiring of Jon Sumrall as head coach. In short order, a program’s GM is becoming as important as the dude with the whistle around his neck. The former Jags GM will actually find this gig more complicated than the NFL, given the portal, signing periods and, most of all, the fact you’re dealing with very young men and a few crazy uncles.    

6. FAU Owls (4-8)

Last week: lost to E. Carolina, 42-3. FYI: The back half of FAU’s schedule was stacked with the upper-rung of the American Conference, and the Owls went 1-5 after reaching 3-3 at midseason. They also saved the worst for last. After scaring a quality UConn team a week earlier, the Owls were down 21-0 after eight minutes and 42-3 at the half. Yet they still couldn’t manage to become our cellar dwellers …

7. FSU Seminoles (5-7)

Last week: lost to Florida, 40-21. FYI: Searching for good news, the Tomahawk Nation website touts FSU’s 2025 TV ratings. According to Nielsen, the ’Noles were one of just two non-SEC schools cracking the top 10. Here’s the rundown: Alabama (average of 8.14 million viewers per game), Georgia (7.35M), Texas (6.83M), Tennessee (6.64), Oklahoma (6.48), LSU (6.42M), Ohio State (5.35M), Florida (5.11M), FSU (4.46M), Ole Miss (4.38M). Now, the obvious downside: A WHOLE LOT of people watched that endless tumble this season. 

— Email Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida college football rankings see no surprise among bookends

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