After starting off the year a blistering 4-0, the Florida Gators faded in October, finishing 1-3 on the month, capped off by a blowout loss to the Georgia Bulldogs

Florida now sits at 5-3 (3-3 SEC) and ranked No. 24 in the country. The Gators have an outside chance at a playoff berth, but the team still has a lot of goals they can still reach in head coach Jon Sumrall’s first season. .

“We still have a lot left to play for,” Sumrall said this week. “You know, we’re in a situation as we enter November and November football; we haven’t had a winning SEC record here since 2020, I don’t believe. We have a chance to do that still.”

Sumrall is right, and he still has a chance to make a statement in year one. The Gators still have plenty to play for with four games left in the regular season, including three SEC games versus Oklahoma, at No. 6 Kentucky, and against Vanderbilt, along with a massive rivalry game at Florida State.

The Gators' last finish above .500 in SEC play was 2020, as Sumrall mentioned, when they finished 8-2. Since then, their best conference finish was 4-4. That year, the Gators also won eight regular-season games, which Florida has not done since.

After the hot start to the year, expectations were sky-high among fans. Now, those have been tempered after the rough October stretch. The playoffs may no longer be on the horizon, but Sumrall still has a chance to turn a promising season into a successful one. Before the season, Florida was projected to win seven games and is tracking to beat that number and again have their best statistical season since COVID.

A higher-profile bowl game is still on the table as well. ESPN has the Gators projected to play in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl on December 30th, or the Kinder’s Texas Bowl on New Year’s Eve.

“It’s not like I’m just comfortable having a winning record, but we have to find ways to continue to grow as a program”, Sumrall said. “And so that’s something to me, and then look, we have to go one day at a time. We have 25-ish days until the last regular-season game. There’s a lot left to play for”.

When you look at the first eight games, you see extremely high highs, such as beating two top-10 teams in Texas on the road and Ole Miss at home. You also see some very low lows, such as losing three games by three scores or more. The expectation at Florida is to win championships, but that does not happen overnight, especially when you play a gauntlet of an SEC schedule.

A favorable schedule to end the year, combined with a strong finish to the regular season, could do a lot of good things for a first-year head coach and a fanbase that desperately wants to get back to the top of college football.

Rebuilds typically take time, and in today's era of college football, they can happen quicker than usual, but not always. Sumrall already had the Gators pointed in the right direction, and there are still big prizes within reach.

Sign up for our free Florida Gators newsletter and follow us on Facebook, YouTube, and X for the latest news!