Week 2 of the 2025 college football season was not kind to the Florida Gators.
Facing high expectations and the most difficult schedule in the sport, Billy Napier and his team failed to defend their home field on Saturday as the South Florida Bulls prevailed in the Swamp, 18-16, for their first-ever win against the Sunshine State’s flagship school.
Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, UF faces a laundry list of questions heading into the Southeastern Confernece schedule. And if the program cannot come up with answers quickly, it will be a long and brutal fall for the Orange and Blue.
In the meantime, at least the objective rankings still have hope for Florida’s near future. ESPN’s SP+, compiled by Bill Connelly, has the Gators ranked No. 24 following their gut-punch loss to USF last weekend. That places them between the No. 23 TCU Horned Frogs and No. 25 Michigan Wolverines.
Florida now owns a 15.0 overall rating — down from 19.2 last week — which breaks down into a 29th-ranked 33.1 rating on offense, 25th-ranked 18.41 rating on defense, and 27th-ranked 0.2 rating on special teams.
ESPN’s SP+ top 25 after Week 2
About ESPN’s SP+ projections
“What is SP+? In a single sentence, it’s a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency that I originally created at Football Outsiders in 2008. SP+ is intended to be predictive and forward-facing,” Connelly offers.
“It is not a résumé ranking (hence the lack of unbeatens near the top), so it does not automatically give credit for big wins or particularly brave scheduling — no good predictive system does. It is simply a measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football. If you’re lucky or unimpressive in a win, your rating will probably fall. If you’re strong and unlucky in a loss, it will probably rise.”
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida football barely holding onto top-25 spot in ESPN’s SP+ rankings after Week 2 loss
Reporting by Adam Dubbin, Gators Wire / Gators Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
