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Welcome to the first installment of Florida FBS power rankings. These ranking will be updated weekly, so remember to check back every Thursday for the latest. The week one power rankings will be based mainly off of last season and the overall talent on the roster. As the season moves forwards, everything from the 2017 season will be thrown away and the roster talent will have less weight on the rankings.
1. Miami Hurricanes (0-0, 0-0 ACC)
First Opponent: vs. #25 LSU Tigers (0-0)
The Hurricanes have the most talented roster in the State of Florida. Miami is coming off of a breakout year that came to a screeching halt finishing the year on a three game losing streak. The 2018 Miami Hurricanes lost some pretty big pieces from their 2017 season but were able to reload through recruiting as they reeled in the number 8 class in the country. Most importantly they were able to bring in 10 players in January as early enrollees. 17 of Miami’s 22 starters on the first depth chart of the season are juniors or seniors. That is a lot of game experience. Even the sophomores set to start have big game experience from playing against Notre Dame and Virginia Tech in 2018. Miami also has the most experienced and longest tenured coaching staff in the state despite the fact that this is only their third year. Between the overall roster talent and the coaching staff experience, Miami had to have the week 1 edge over Florida State.
2. Florida State Seminoles (0-0, 0-0 ACC)
First Opponent: vs. #20 Virginia Tech Hokies (0-0)
Florida State welcomed in Willie Taggart as their head coach after Jimbo Fisher left at the end of last season. The former Oregon Ducks head coach has a very talented roster thanks to Jimbo Fisher and his staff. Although they have talent, they are young and inexperienced. The offense does have more experience than the defense as they bring back redshirt junior quarterback Deondre Francois from an injury that sidelined him all of last season. They also bring back sophomore running back Cam Akers. Florida State’s offensive line is neither experienced, with three underclassmen starting, nor all that talented. Offensive line will be the biggest weak spot for this team. The defense has talent, but that talent is unproven. Due to the talent on this roster FSU had to start at number 2, but a week one loss to Virginia Tech will sent the Noles tumbling down in the rankings.
3. Central Florida Knights (0-0, 0-0 AAC)
First Opponent: vs Connecticut Huskies (0-0)
The defending “National Champions” as they like to call themselves start the season ranked in the top 25, coming in at number 21. Central Florida does bring back many pieces from their 2017 undefeated season, but they did lose one very important piece, their head coach. Scott Frost abandoned ship as soon as the 2017 season ended. With Scott Frost returning to his alma mater, UCF brought in Josh Heupel to be the new head coach and Randy Shannon to be the new defensive coordinator. While UCF does have a lot of returning players, the system under Coach Frost was a big reason for their success. This UCF season could go one of two ways. They could play with a chip on their shoulder from being left out of the playoff last season, in which you will see them near the top of these ranking every week, or they could stumble without their head coach, in which case you will see them towards the bottom of this list every week. For now, we will keep UCF at number 3 since they did shock a lot of people last season.
4. Florida Gators (0-0, 0-0 SEC)
First Opponent: vs Charleston Southern Bucky (0-0)
There is no reason the top three of this list should be anything other than UM, UF, and FSU every week, but the Gators just can’t stop messing things up. Florida is coming off of an awful 2017 season in which they went 4-7 and eventually fired Head Coach Jim Mcelwain. The man to replace Mcelwain, Dan Mullen. Dan Mullen’s team actually does have talent, especially in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Talent-wise, the Gators would be third on this list. However, this is a power ranking not a talent ranking. I even considered dropping them down to five and moving FAU up to four. Florida’s biggest weakness is the QB situation. With Emory Jones, Kyle Trask (yes go ahead and make the trash jokes), and Feleipe Franks as the only available quarterbacks, you can imagine that the offense is going to struggle to move the ball. The Gators do have a cupcake schedule early on which should allow them to get a few easy wins and maybe move up in these rankings, but they need to be careful because they have been known to lose to FCS teams before.
5. Florida Atlantic Owls (0-0, 0-0 CUSA)
First Opponent: #7 Oklahoma Sooners (0-0)
Lane Kiffin is here to stay. After signing a contract until the year 2027, Coach Kiffin turned his attention back to his football team. FAU is coming off an 11-3 year while going 8-0 in conference play. The Owls laid a beatdown on Akron in the Boca Raton Bowl winning 50-3 and really sending a statement. FAU is a good football team, but their ceiling is way lower than the top notch teams in the State of Florida. Kiffin and his team have a chance to shoot up this list this week as they travel to Oklahoma to take on the 7th best team in the country. FAU has a pretty favorable schedule after that Oklahoma game and could reasonably rise as high as number 3 on this list if the beat UCF on September 21st.
6. South Florida Bulls (0-0, 0-0 CUSA)
First Opponent: Elon Phoenix (0-0)
Charlie Strong and the Bulls are coming off a strong 2017 campaign. After going 10-2 and 6-2 in conference play, the Bulls finished the season ranked 21st in the country. South Florida has a very difficult task of replacing explosive quarterback Quinton Flowers. With Flowers playing for the Bengals, Blake Barnett now steps in. Barnett, a pocket passer, is a very different style quarterback than Flowers. He has good size at 6’5’’ and about 220 pounds, but we do not know if he can carry this team the way Flowers did. The Bulls have a big game against Georgia Tech in week 2 in which they could move themselves up the rankings, but for now they have to stay at six because of the uncertainty.
7. Florida International Panthers (0-0, 0-0) CUSA
First Opponent: Indiana Hoosiers (0-0)
Butch Davis and the Golden Panthers may have been overshadowed by Lane Kiffin and FAU, but FIU had a decent 2017 campaign. After finishing 8-5 last year, including 5-3 in conference play, Coach Davis is trying to bring FIU up to the level of FAU. Coach Davis will have to pull off a few upsets if he wants to climb up these ranking in the early season as they have September games against Indiana and Miami. FIU has the least talented roster in the state and if they want to make any kind of a splash they will need some underclassman to show out. Until Coach Davis shows that his team can play above their talent level, FIU will be sitting near the bottom of this list.
1. Miami Hurricanes (0-0, 0-0 ACC)
First Opponent: vs. #25 LSU Tigers (0-0)
The Hurricanes have the most talented roster in the State of Florida. Miami is coming off of a breakout year that came to a screeching halt finishing the year on a three game losing streak. The 2018 Miami Hurricanes lost some pretty big pieces from their 2017 season but were able to reload through recruiting as they reeled in the number 8 class in the country. Most importantly they were able to bring in 10 players in January as early enrollees. 17 of Miami’s 22 starters on the first depth chart of the season are juniors or seniors. That is a lot of game experience. Even the sophomores set to start have big game experience from playing against Notre Dame and Virginia Tech in 2018. Miami also has the most experienced and longest tenured coaching staff in the state despite the fact that this is only their third year. Between the overall roster talent and the coaching staff experience, Miami had to have the week 1 edge over Florida State.
2. Florida State Seminoles (0-0, 0-0 ACC)
First Opponent: vs. #20 Virginia Tech Hokies (0-0)
Florida State welcomed in Willie Taggart as their head coach after Jimbo Fisher left at the end of last season. The former Oregon Ducks head coach has a very talented roster thanks to Jimbo Fisher and his staff. Although they have talent, they are young and inexperienced. The offense does have more experience than the defense as they bring back redshirt junior quarterback Deondre Francois from an injury that sidelined him all of last season. They also bring back sophomore running back Cam Akers. Florida State’s offensive line is neither experienced, with three underclassmen starting, nor all that talented. Offensive line will be the biggest weak spot for this team. The defense has talent, but that talent is unproven. Due to the talent on this roster FSU had to start at number 2, but a week one loss to Virginia Tech will sent the Noles tumbling down in the rankings.
3. Central Florida Knights (0-0, 0-0 AAC)
First Opponent: vs Connecticut Huskies (0-0)
The defending “National Champions” as they like to call themselves start the season ranked in the top 25, coming in at number 21. Central Florida does bring back many pieces from their 2017 undefeated season, but they did lose one very important piece, their head coach. Scott Frost abandoned ship as soon as the 2017 season ended. With Scott Frost returning to his alma mater, UCF brought in Josh Heupel to be the new head coach and Randy Shannon to be the new defensive coordinator. While UCF does have a lot of returning players, the system under Coach Frost was a big reason for their success. This UCF season could go one of two ways. They could play with a chip on their shoulder from being left out of the playoff last season, in which you will see them near the top of these ranking every week, or they could stumble without their head coach, in which case you will see them towards the bottom of this list every week. For now, we will keep UCF at number 3 since they did shock a lot of people last season.
4. Florida Gators (0-0, 0-0 SEC)
First Opponent: vs Charleston Southern Bucky (0-0)
There is no reason the top three of this list should be anything other than UM, UF, and FSU every week, but the Gators just can’t stop messing things up. Florida is coming off of an awful 2017 season in which they went 4-7 and eventually fired Head Coach Jim Mcelwain. The man to replace Mcelwain, Dan Mullen. Dan Mullen’s team actually does have talent, especially in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Talent-wise, the Gators would be third on this list. However, this is a power ranking not a talent ranking. I even considered dropping them down to five and moving FAU up to four. Florida’s biggest weakness is the QB situation. With Emory Jones, Kyle Trask (yes go ahead and make the trash jokes), and Feleipe Franks as the only available quarterbacks, you can imagine that the offense is going to struggle to move the ball. The Gators do have a cupcake schedule early on which should allow them to get a few easy wins and maybe move up in these rankings, but they need to be careful because they have been known to lose to FCS teams before.
5. Florida Atlantic Owls (0-0, 0-0 CUSA)
First Opponent: #7 Oklahoma Sooners (0-0)
Lane Kiffin is here to stay. After signing a contract until the year 2027, Coach Kiffin turned his attention back to his football team. FAU is coming off an 11-3 year while going 8-0 in conference play. The Owls laid a beatdown on Akron in the Boca Raton Bowl winning 50-3 and really sending a statement. FAU is a good football team, but their ceiling is way lower than the top notch teams in the State of Florida. Kiffin and his team have a chance to shoot up this list this week as they travel to Oklahoma to take on the 7th best team in the country. FAU has a pretty favorable schedule after that Oklahoma game and could reasonably rise as high as number 3 on this list if the beat UCF on September 21st.
6. South Florida Bulls (0-0, 0-0 CUSA)
First Opponent: Elon Phoenix (0-0)
Charlie Strong and the Bulls are coming off a strong 2017 campaign. After going 10-2 and 6-2 in conference play, the Bulls finished the season ranked 21st in the country. South Florida has a very difficult task of replacing explosive quarterback Quinton Flowers. With Flowers playing for the Bengals, Blake Barnett now steps in. Barnett, a pocket passer, is a very different style quarterback than Flowers. He has good size at 6’5’’ and about 220 pounds, but we do not know if he can carry this team the way Flowers did. The Bulls have a big game against Georgia Tech in week 2 in which they could move themselves up the rankings, but for now they have to stay at six because of the uncertainty.
7. Florida International Panthers (0-0, 0-0) CUSA
First Opponent: Indiana Hoosiers (0-0)
Butch Davis and the Golden Panthers may have been overshadowed by Lane Kiffin and FAU, but FIU had a decent 2017 campaign. After finishing 8-5 last year, including 5-3 in conference play, Coach Davis is trying to bring FIU up to the level of FAU. Coach Davis will have to pull off a few upsets if he wants to climb up these ranking in the early season as they have September games against Indiana and Miami. FIU has the least talented roster in the state and if they want to make any kind of a splash they will need some underclassman to show out. Until Coach Davis shows that his team can play above their talent level, FIU will be sitting near the bottom of this list.
