There have been times this season when I really liked Florida -- first when the Gators beat Gonzaga and played Duke close in the PK80, then again when they won at Kentucky to improve to 6-1 in the SEC.
But right now is not one of those times.
Florida is struggling these days -- evidence being that the Gators are 3-4 in their past seven games with all four losses coming to unranked opponents. Last week they lost by 12 points at unranked Georgia, then by 18 points at home to unranked Alabama. Which is why the Gators went from 23rd in the AP poll last week to unranked in the AP poll this week. Last week, 41 different AP voters ranked Florida. But this week, I noticed, only one did -- The Providence Journal's accomplished columnist Kevin McNamara.
That's strange.
And what's even stranger is that McNamara has Florida ranked 23rd on this week's ballot, which is exactly where he had Florida ranked on last week's ballot. In other words, the Gators lost two games to unranked opponents by an average of 15.0 points but did not drop at all on McNamara's ballot, which must be maddening for Michigan fans. Because John Beilein's Wolverines went 2-0 last week but still dropped two spots on McNamara's ballot. For real. He had Michigan ranked 15th last week. Then Michigan beat Northwestern and Minnesota. And McNamara responded by dropping Michigan two spots to 17th this week.
So let me recap this for you.
Florida went 0-2 last week with two double-digit losses to unranked opponents but did not drop even one spot on McNamara's ballot. But Michigan dropped two spots on McNamara's ballot even though the Wolverines did not lose twice by double-digits to unranked opponents but instead actually went 2-0 to improve to 19-6 on the season.
Seems backwards to me.
But, as always, I'm appreciative. Because the Poll Attacks column relies on backwards. Without stuff like this, the column wouldn't exist. But with stuff like this, there's no end in sight.
