Florida sees a fall but still ranks highly in FPI after loss to LSU
Florida fell to just 4-3 on the season with Saturday’s frustrating road loss against the LSU Tigers. UF entered as double-digit favorites against a team that was decimated by injuries and had already begun the process of divorcing from its head coach, but that wasn’t enough to score a win in Baton Rouge.
The Gators lost 49-42, and they had to turn to redshirt freshman quarterback Anthony Richardson to lead the comeback effort after Emory Jones threw a pick-six to start the second half.
There are a lot of questions surrounding this team, which allowed a record-setting day to LSU’s ground game despite entering the game as one of the worst in the FBS. But while UF fell in ESPN’s Football Power Index, it wasn’t a major drop.
In fact, Florida still ranks in the top 10 of FPI, coming in at No. 8. It’s the only three-loss team in the top 10, and no team ranked above it has more than one loss. This is likely partially due to the fact that all of UF’s losses came by one score and the Gators have outgained their opponent in every loss.
But yardage totals don’t win games, and even though ESPN’s FPI thinks that Florida is a good team, that won’t change the fact that its goals for the postseason are essentially out of reach now.
FPI clearly thinks this is a better team than the record shows, but at some point, you actually have to win games. And with an impending matchup against No. 1 Georgia, 8-4 feels like the best-case scenario.
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