Florida's stay in the AP Top 25 poll ended almost as quickly as it began

Two weeks ago, the Florida Gators were ranked No. 8 in the country, and now they are receiving just nine votes in the AP Top 25 poll. 

After consecutive weeks of blowout losses, the Gators are now an afterthought in the rankings, dropping outside the top 30 and coming in 32nd to be exact, with a few votes. The fact that Florida received 20 fewer votes than James Madison is probably a little annoying, but if the Gators were in the Sun Belt, they would probably be undefeated too. 

As it is, Florida is in the SEC and the Gators are going to have some opportunities for a win that could change their fortunes, but winning against previously-ranked No. 1 Texas in Austin and the current No. 1 Georgia in Atlanta is asking a lot out of this struggling team.

AP Top 25 Poll after Week 6

1. Georgia, 6-0 (66 first-place votes)
2. Notre Dame, 6-0 (1)
3. Miami, 5-0 (2)
4. Ohio State 5-1
5. Indiana, 6-0 (1)
6. Alabama, 5-1
7. Texas, 4-1
8. BYU, 5-0
9. Ole Miss, 4-1
10. Texas Tech, 5-0
11. Utah, 5-0
12. UCLA, 5-0
13. Missouri, 5-1
14.Tennessee, 5-1
15. Kentucky, 5-1
16. Mississippi State, 4-1
17. Iowa, 5-1
18. Oklahoma State, 4-1
19. USC, 6-1
20. Houston, 5-1
21. Wake Forest, 5-1
22. LSU, 4-2
23. Boise State, 5-1
24. SMU, 4-1
25. Northwestern, 4-1

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES:
Wisconsin 92, Oregon 86, Arizona 82, Nebraska 65, Oklahoma 44, James Madison 29, Florida 9, Duke 5, New Mexico 3, Oregon State 1

Florida joins a list of teams that fizzled out of the Top 10

The Gators started the season unranked, but moved up to No. 8 after the first four weeks, which included a road win at Auburn and a dominating performance against Ole Miss that basically knocked Trinidad Chambliss out of the Heisman race. 

Three teams (Oregon, Texas A&M and Oklahoma) were all preseason top-10 teams that are currently unranked. The playoff path for the Aggies and Sooners is likely non-existent. Oregon is struggling and desperately needs Dante Moore to be healthy, but the Ducks can rally with a win over Ohio State.

Michigan, Washington, Penn State, and Louisville were all teams ranked in the top 20 that have fallen off. Another highly-ranked preseason team, LSU, is down to No. 22 with games against Alabama and Texas in the coming week on the schedule.

That might be why some coaches have issues with preseason rankings or early rankings in general. The voters are crowning teams well before their time and are occasionally forced to do major course corrections, which was the case with No. 15 Kentucky and No. 21 Wake Forest, two teams that were unranked last week. 

Florida rising up to No. 8 made for an exciting time, but it was too soon to crown the Gators, and the fallout from consecutive losses has been predictably disappointing. These extreme examples of voters getting ahead of themselves early and then being forced to overreact the other way is one of the big reasons why the poll system feels outdated for college football in the 21st century. 

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