Gator Country

The crowd at Ben Hill griffin Stadium goes wild after a big play during the Florida Gators' 44-11 win against South Carolina on Saturday. / Gator Country photo by Wes Hall

The Florida Gators moved up a spot in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll and remained unchanged in the Associated Press Top 25 after Saturday’s 44-11 victory against South Carolina at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

Florida (7-0 overall, 6-0 in Southeastern Conference play) are No. 3 in both the AP and the coaches polls. Florida moved up from No. 4 in last week’s coaches’ poll and also received one No. 1 vote in the AP poll. Ohio State beat writer Doug Lesmiresis of the Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer reportedly gave the Gators the vote.

The ranking that matters the most, the Bowl Championship Subdivision (BCS) Standings, will be released at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday.

If Jeff Sagarin’s NCAA football ratings are any indication, there’s a chance the Gators could move from No. 2 to No. 1 in the BCS Standings. Alabama was No. 1 in the first BCS standings that were released a week ago.

Sagarin’s rating has a column for its “Elo_Chess,” which is utilized by the BCS. It has Florida topping the list with a 103.93 rating. Florida’s strength of schedule and the fact it’s 2-0 against Top 10 teams helps.

The BCS Standings takes into account the coaches poll, the Harris Interactive College Football Poll and the average of six computer rankings, with each accounting for one-third of the formula.

Florida was No. 3 in last week’s Harris Interactive poll.

About the author

MikeCapshaw

Mike’s 15 years in the business has included more than six years of covering SEC sports and recruiting at a daily newspaper in Arkansas. He has also helped launch a newspaper, magazines, websites and even a sports talk radio show. Mike has won Florida Press Association awards for Best Sports Game Story and Best Sports Feature Story in the past two years as well as a company-wide award at his former newspaper group that includes some 60 publications, for Excellence in Sports Reporting.

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