Gators come in at No. 8 in Preseason AP Poll

The most unprecedented college football season in more than a century will start wit the Florida Gators ranked No. 8 in the Associated Press poll.

The AP released its preseason top-15 poll on Monday afternoon, in it including for one week only every team regardless if they are playing football in the fall or not. That will lead to a very different week two poll when that is released after the season begins.

The Gators’ No. 8 ranking in the AP poll mirrors their status in the Coaches Poll. Florida is ranked fourth in the SEC behind Alabama, Georgia, and LSU. In total half of the SEC is ranked inside the top-25.

Nine teams (Ohio State, Penn State, Oregon, Wisconsin, Michigan, USC, Minnesota, Utah, Iowa) are currently ranked but will fall out when the next poll is released as their conference are not participating in fall sports.

The cancelling of many seasons, or moving to conference-only schedules has taken away a lot of marquee matchups. No longer will we see games between No. 18 UNC at UCF, No. 3 Alabama vs. No. 17 USC, No. 2 Ohio State vs. No. 9 Oregon, or No. 14 Texas at No. 6 LSU.

1. Clemson
2. Ohio State
3. Alabama
4. Georgia
5. Oklahoma
6. LSU
7. Penn State
8. Florida
9. Oregon
10. Notre Dame
11. Auburn
12. Wisconsin
13. Texas A&M
14. Texas
15.Oklahoma State
16. Michigan
17. USC
18. UNC
19. Minnesota
20. Cincinnati
21. UCF
22. Utah
23. Iowa State
24. Iowa
25. Tennessee

Brett McMurphy went ahead and, looking at the others receiving votes section, to take a look at what the second AP Poll would look like by subtracting the nine teams that are ranked but won’t play games.

1.Clemson
2.Alabama
3. Georgia
4. Oklahoma
5. LSU
6. Florida
7. Notre Dame
8. Auburn
9. Texas A&M
10. Texas
11. Oklahoma State
12. UNC
13. Cincinnati
14. UCF
15. Iowa State
16. Tennessee
17. Memphis
18. Virginia Tech
19. Miami
20. Louisville
21. Appalachian State
22. Kentucky
23. Baylor
24. TCU
25. Virginia

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC