The 5-3 Florida Gators have had a roller-coaster of a season in 2026. Jon Sumrall's Florida team was seen as a potential College Football Playoff contender after upset wins over Ole Miss and Texas. But with losses to Missouri, South Carolina and now Georgia, making it to the CFP is no longer feasible.
First-year head coach Jon Sumrall knows that the Gators are out of the CFP and SEC title hunt. As for goals that his team can play for, Sumrall wants his team to do something Florida hasn't accomplished since 2020. That is finishing with a winning record inside the SEC. Coach Sumrall addressed this during his weekly press conference:
"I also told them we still have a lot left to play for," Sumrall said of his message to the team. "You know, we're in a situation as we enter November and November football, we haven't had a winning SEC record here since 2020, I don't believe. We have a chance to do that still. So that's a pretty substantial goal. It's not like I'm just comfortable having a winning record, but that is – we have to find ways to continue to grow as a program. And so that's something to me."
Florida is 3-3 in the conference with three SEC opponents remaining in Oklahoma this weekend, a road trip to Kentucky and a Nov. 21 home game against Vanderbilt.
The Gators' next 2 games are critical for Sumrall's first season will go
Florida is a six-point favorite against an Oklahoma team that is 2-3 in the SEC with wins over Texas and Mississippi State. The Sooners three losses came from two teams that also beat Florida, in South Carolina and Georgia, as well as a 21-13 loss to Kentucky on Oct. 17.
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While Florida is expected to beat Oklahoma at home, the Sooners have played well in wins over Texas and Mississippi State. Oklahoma is also switching things up on offense this week. Head coach Brent Venables has moved on from offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and is giving play-calling duties to Sooners tight ends coach and former Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten.
A fresh set of eyes to the Oklahoma offense could help give Sooner quarterback John Mateer a boost of confidence going on the road. Oklahoma also has a defense that ranks top-25 in the country in yards per game.
Buster Faulkner's once red-hot offensive scheme isn't clicking as did earlier in the season, even with the playmakers Florida has. If Florida's offense looks as it did against Georgia on Saturday, it could be a long day.
As for the Kentucky game next week, the Wildcats look like a true SEC contender under first-year head coach Will Stein. The Wildcats' one loss came against Alabama earlier in the season, a game that Kentucky was leading at halftime. Florida also has a poor track record in recent years playing the Wildcats on the road. The Gators haven't won in Lexington since 2019, and Stein's Kentucky team lost just the one game to Alabama at home all season.
Florida is expected to take care of a Vanderbilt team that's 0-5 in the conference, but you can't exactly look past a Clark Lea-led team.
Best case scenario, Florida goes 3-0 over the next three games and enters Rivalry Week against Florida State with a chance to reach nine regular-season games. That also hasn't been done in Gainesville since 2019. The worst case scenario is obviously dropping all three, but that would require a massive regression.
Florida going 2-1 with wins over Oklahoma and Vanderbilt while dropping the Kentucky game would also still accomplish the SEC winning record goal.
"After you go into a game that maybe is as hyped up as last week's was, sometimes you worry about, man, how much gas is in the tank emotionally," Sumrall continued. "And it's something I have to help them understand. I was like, guys, man, you sign up for the whole year, and what does that look like? We need to finish this thing the right way. There's still, to me, a lot left to play for. And we have to have enough pride in ourselves to go play hard no matter what's out there."
Of course, Sumrall was not just hired to have winning records inside the SEC. He knows he was hired to win championships and turn Florida into an annual SEC and CFP contender. But having the chance to reach eight or 9 wins—possibly 10, with a bowl win—his first season in Gainesville is a massive improvement.
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