After the Florida Gators faceplanted against Kentucky, the season for Florida feels like it's officially over. The Gators do have games left against Ole Miss, Tennessee, and FSU, and would need to win out to make a bowl in 2025.
But it hasn't just been 2025 that has been the issue. The past five seasons of Florida Football have been as bad as they have ever been, and the Gators are staring down the barrel of a dubious distinction in Gainesville.
Florida has just 28 wins in five seasons
Not that anyone needs a history lesson, but these are the past five seasons in Gainesville:
- 2021: 6-7
- 2022: 6-7
- 2023: 5-7
- 2024: 8-5
- 2025: 3-6
Add it all together, and Florida currently has 28 wins over the past five seasons. Unless the Gators can win at least two more games to close out 2025, it will be the first five-year stretch since 1978 through 1982 that Florida failed to reach at least 30 wins.
And as Gator historians know, that stretch was bogged down by the infamous 1979 squad, and the years that came after were quite successful.
In fact, if you look at five-year stretches and the year with the second-highest win total in that stretch, the Gators need to win out this season (including a bowl game) or face being the first squad since 1957 through 1961 to have the second-most successful season be six wins.
If we go further down the rabbit hole and want a five-year stretch that doesn't include 1979, the last time the Gators didn't win at least 30 games over five years was from 1955 through 1959.
Add in that Florida's loss to Kentucky was the worst in series history since 1950, and it's just a further reminder of what a disaster these past five years have been in Gainesville.
The hope, no matter what happens this season, is that Florida is always one coach away from turning the ship around, and if it can find the right one, it should be on the pathway to getting back on top sooner rather than later.