Florida Football getting AP Poll votes was on no one's bingo card two weeks ago

Two weeks ago, the only vote Florida Football received was the dreaded vote of confidence from Scott Stircklin. The Gators were 4-5 and were coming off a loss to Texas where at one point they were down 42-0.

Fast forward two weeks, and amazingly, the Gators have pulled off back-to-back wins over LSU and Ole Miss and are receiving actual votes in the AP Top 25.

Florida Football: Count the votes

Even before the polls came out on Sunday, there was a bit of groundswell to try and rank the Gators heading into the regular season finale. That surge never completely made it to the voters, as Florida did not receive any votes in the US LBM Coaches Poll, but when the AP Poll came out, the Gators made their way in the "Receiving Votes" with four votes to unofficially rank 33rd in the country.

It's not clear if this was one voter ranking Florida 21st or a combination of voters ranking Florida.

In truth, Florida probably is one of the best 25 teams in the nation right now, which again is a sentence we didn't think we would be speaking two weeks ago. While DJ Lagway is getting the bulk of the headlines, the improved play of the defensive line has been the real star in Florida's past two wins.

But if we are ranking teams based on the totality of the 2024 season, then it is completely fair to leave Florida unranked. Yes, four of their losses have come to teams ranked in the top ten, but Florida was non-competitive in two of those losses and was non-competitive in their fifth loss to Texas A&M.

What it all highlights is the importance of not having a start to 2025 like the Gators did in 2024 if Florida is looking to make a push to the playoffs next season.