If the State of Florida was all one conference Miami would have clinched the regular season championship already. The competition for second through fourth place is coming down to Central, Florida, Florida an South Florida. Central Florida and South Florida won on Saturday, while Florida lost.
Miami maintained its dominance with a 53-31 win over Duke. The game was a back-and-forth of runs with Miami closing the game outscoring Duke 36-3 after falling behind 28-17 early in the second half. Florida lost 34-20 to Georgia after losing five-star freshman quarterback D.J. Lagway to an injury. The Gators are 4-4.
Central Florida completed dominated Arizona in a 56-12 win in the annual space game in Orlando. South Florida made a statement in their new annual in-state rivalry game with a 44-21 win over Florida Atlantic. Head coaches Alex Golesh of USF and Tom Herman of FAU had an icy exchange after the game.
FIU had an emphatic 34-13 win over 2-6 New Mexico State to improve to 3-6. Florida State continued their nose-dive season with a 35-11 home loss to North Carolina. The Seminoles continued to struggle offensively with 201 total yards while allowing 500 to the Tar Heels.
Rank | Team | Record | FPI Ranking | Projected record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Miami | 9-0 | 9 | 12.2-0.7 |
2 | Florida | 4-4 | 25 | 5.5-6.5 |
3 | Central Florida | 4-5 | 39 | 5.6-6.4 |
4 | South Florida | 4-4 | 89 | 6.5-5.5 |
5 | Florida International | 3-6 | 115 | 4.6-7.4 |
6 | Florida Atlantic | 2-6 | 114 | 4.1-7.9 |
7 | Florida State | 1-7 | 69 | 2.2-9.8 |
The ESPN Football Power Index projects Miami and South Florida as the only teams from the Sunshine State to finish with winning records. Miami plays at Georgia Tech on Saturday, followed by Wake Forest on November 23 and at Syracuse on November 30 to finish the regular season.
South Florida hosts Navy, is at Charlotte, plays versus Tulsa and is at Rice to finish the regular season. Navy and Rice are basically toss-ups per the FPI and South Florida is a prohibitive favorite versus Tulsa and Charlotte. South Florida needs two wins to become bowl eligible.
Florida and UCF need two more wins to become bowl eligible and FIU needs to win out. Florida plays at Texas, versus LSU and Mississippi and at Florida State. Without Lagway and previous starter Graham Mertz injured, Florida is going to have a difficult time winning any of its next three games.
Central Florida finishes the season at Arizona State and West Virginia and versus Utah. The Knights are significant underdogs to ASU in the FPI and are favored versus WVU and Utah. UCF needs two more wins to become bowl-eligible. FAU and FSU are playing out their 2024 season.