With the playoffs around the corner, it’s a reminder of where the Florida Gators were supposed to be in 2025. After an offseason of hype following the four-game winning streak to end 2024, Florida was seen as a dark-horse contender for the playoffs in 2025, even with their gauntlet of a schedule. But Florida’s playoff hopes ended in Week 2 against USF, and it was foreshadowing for a disaster of a season that wound up getting Billy Napier fired.
The frustration many Gator fans had was that Napier was kept one more year, and they kept getting sold a narrative of how long it takes to build up a program to a championship level.
Now that Jon Sumrall is in town, there will bound to be some of those excuses if Florida doesn’t make the playoffs within the first two or three years. But as the 12 teams in the playoffs this year showcase, it doesn’t take that long to rebuild in the modern era, no matter how dormant one may be.
No. 1 Indiana
The rise of Indiana is one of the great stories in college football. Curt Cignetti has taken a program that had never won 10 games in school history and accomplished that in back-to-back years.
If Indiana, of all programs, can make the playoffs, why can’t Florida?
No. 2 Ohio State
Obviously, Ohio State is one of the titans of the sport and is the defending national champs, and it’s not like Ryan Day had to walk into a dumpster fire.
But Ohio State did something critical in 2011 to guarantee the program remained one of the titans of the sport. After Jim Tressel resigned in 2011 due to infractions that look laughable today, Luke Fickell took over for the 2011 season. After the Buckeyes went 6-7, they didn’t wait around going “Well, this is the new normal.” They went out and got Urban Meyer, and the rest is history.
No. 3 Georgia
Kirby Smart has had the Bulldogs rolling since he arrived, but it is important to keep in mind what their ceiling was prior to him showing up. Mark Richt was the OG James Franklin, and Georgia sent him packing to go get Smart.
After a rocky first season, Smart was in the national title game in his second season in Athens.
No. 4 Texas Tech
Head coach Joey McGuire was hired in the same cycle as Napier. McGuire has the No. 4 team in the country, while Napier is off to James Madison. And even though Texas Tech wasn’t anything special in McGuire’s first three seasons, it’s also important to note that prior to this season, the Red Raiders hadn’t won nine or more games since 2009.
It also helps that they found oil money.
Details.
No. 5 Oregon
Speaking of money, Oregon is not the type of place where it is impossible to win, especially in the modern era, with the backing of Nike.
But Dan Lanning stepped in and raised the profile of the program to levels not seen since the Chip Kelly days, and hasn’t had a season under ten wins.
No. 6 Ole Miss
One of the common themes with all of these programs is that the current coach in charge elevated the program to new heights, or at the bare minimum, the program's “floor,” within three years of being in town.
So while one may look at the program formally coached by Lane Kiffin and say, “It took them six years to make the playoffs,” this is also a program that won ten games in his second year in town, which had previously only been done twice at Ole Miss since 1973.
No. 7 Texas A&M
Mike Elko was hired the same year as Napier at Duke, elevated the Blue Devils, got hired by Texas A&M, and started 11-0 in just his second year in College Station.
Elko took over a program that even Napier was able to beat prior to Elko's arrival.
No. 8 Oklahoma
This might be the most complicated one to evaluate, considering the ceiling for Oklahoma is perennial top ten. And it’s not like Brent Venables walked into a dumpster fire.
But Venables was hired the same time as Napier and won ten games in 2023 and is in the playoffs in 2025.
No. 9 Alabama
Kalen DeBoer isn’t Nick Saban, and it looks unlikely the Crimson Tide will actually win a national title under DeBoer.
But DeBoer was hired the same year at Washington as Napier was at Florida, and has already appeared in a national title game with the Huskies and is now in the playoffs with the Crimson Tide.
No. 10 Miami
Two years in, it looked like Mario Cristobal was going to be a massive flop at Miami. But after throttling Florida in the 2024 opener, the Hurricanes went 10-3 last season and are 10-2 this year and in the playoffs.
If you are keeping score at home, Cristobal is the 7th coach on this list who was hired in either the same cycle as Napier or after.
No. 11 Tulane
Coach number eight in the playoffs, who has been at their current program who four or fewer years, is none other than the man about the be Florida’s coach, Jon Sumrall.
We’ve expressed our concerns, and Sumrall didn’t exactly take over a program in the dumps at Tulane, but he did have to essentially flip the entire roster in two years and still won the American Conference to make it to the playoffs.
No. 12 James Madison
For all the whining about James Madison not deserving a seat at the table, we would much rather some Cinderellas get into the field to spice things up than the entitled brats at Notre Dame.
And Bob Chesney is in just his second year at James Madison. He is off to UCLA after the playoffs and will hand over the reins to none other than Billy Napier.
Life has a way of coming full circle.