Three teams ranked too high in coaches poll on Florida Football's 2024 schedule

The US LBM Coaches Poll (formerly the USA Today Coaches Poll) was released yesterday, and Florida Football wasn't ranked, to no one's surprise. It, in fact, was a bit of a shock that Florida even received votes in the poll, with 11 votes being cast for the Gators.

In total, eight teams on Florida's schedule are ranked heading into the 2024 season. We think the following are three who are ranked too high in the preseason poll.

Kentucky (Receiving Votes)

Although not actually ranked, it is silly that Kentucky, much like Florida, is receiving votes at all in the poll. The theme for Kentucky over the last few years is that they have unloaded all their effort against Florida before receding back to a mid-level team.

The Wildcats have gone 7-6 the past two seasons, and for all the talk of Kentucky being a football school, they have finished a season ranked just once since 2019.

Kentucky, and the voters who gave them votes, seem to be putting their hopes behind transfer QB Brock Vandagriff, a once highly touted prospect who has essentially never seen the field in three seasons.

Miami (19th)

Billy Napier is 11-14 during his two seasons in Gainesville, so he hasn't earned the benefit of the doubt to be ranked heading into 2024 even if there is a pathway for Florida to go 8-4.

So it is with that same rationale that it is surprising to see Miami get as much love as they have given, as they are 12-13 under Mario Cristobal.

As we highlighted yesterday, while they did land Cam Ward in the transfer portal, they also had a ton of dudes transfer out. Their recruiting class of 2024 was ranked in the top five, but that class relied upon 13 three-star prospects. No other team ranked in the top 15 had more than ten three-stars.

Considering Miami has finished the season ranked just once since 2018, ranking them 19th to start the year feels like a stretch.

Ole Miss (6th)

Of the three teams on this list, Ole Miss is the most likely to beat Florida. However, the Rebels have been placed in a spot they have never ascended to on the field of play.

Lane Kiffin and company were hyper-aggressive in the transfer portal and wound up with a top-five portal class that included Florida's Princely Umanmielen.

And had there been a 12-team playoff last season, Ole Miss would have snuck in as one of the last teams.

But the reality is that since 2016 Ole Miss has never been ranked higher than 8th, and since Kiffin took over in 2020 the Rebels have a losing record against ranked opponents (7-8).

So, starting them at 6th and granting them inside positioning is a choice as Kiffin tries to prove that Ole Miss is more than just a gatekeeper in 2024.