For one Saturday night in Gainesville, Florida looked less like a program searching for its footing and more like the old SEC bully it used to be.
Jon Sumrall got the biggest win of his young Florida tenure, and he got it in style: the Gators blasted No. 4 Ole Miss 52-28 at home in The Swamp. It was the kind of result that makes people sit up fast, especially for a coach still early in his time in Gainesville and a team that had spent the first part of the season trying to prove it belonged in the conversation.
Florida did plenty of that against the Rebels, leaning into a physical rushing attack that controlled the game and kept the stadium buzzing. The Gators piled up 294 yards on the ground, and Jadan Baugh was the engine. The Decatur, Ga. native carried 29 times for 142 yards and three touchdowns, and he became just the third Florida back in school history to post five straight 100-yard rushing games, joining Emmitt Smith and Fred Taylor.
Duke Clark gave Florida another jolt out of the backfield. The sophomore ran 12 times for 126 yards and a touchdown, averaging 10.5 yards per carry. And while the run game did most of the heavy lifting, Aaron Philo still gave the offense enough through the air, throwing for 196 yards and a touchdown.
Ole Miss hung around longer than the final score suggests. Florida led 17-6 at halftime, but Trinidad Chambliss opened the third quarter by marching the Rebels 80 yards in five plays for a touchdown that cut the margin to three. The teams traded touchdowns in the third, and Florida’s 92 penalty yards helped keep Ole Miss in striking distance.
Then the game turned. Chambliss lost a fumble early in the fourth quarter, Florida cashed in, and the lead stretched to 38-21. The Gators tacked on two more touchdowns after that, and Chambliss finished the day with an interception on Ole Miss’ final possession.
The win carried extra weight because of what Florida has been trying to become again. Since Urban Meyer left in 2010, the Gators have been through Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain, Dan Mullen and Billy Napier, and they’ve reached only two SEC title games, losing both.
Sumrall, 44, arrived with momentum from Troy and Tulane, where he never had a season below nine wins across his last five years. His energy has already been a talking point in Gainesville, and his hire of offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner - along with quarterback Aaron Philo coming with him from Georgia Tech - added to the offseason buzz.
Florida had already shown signs of life by winning at Auburn last week to move to 3-0, but that game came with 138 penalty yards and enough sloppiness to make the outcome feel less secure than the record did. Against Ole Miss, the Gators got the kind of win that changes the conversation.
They also did it as a 3.5-point home underdog, at least according to the oddsmakers Sumrall joked about this week, saying, "there's some really good drugs out there". In this case, the line looked a lot less ridiculous after the final whistle.
Florida is now 4-0 for the first time since 2019, and the schedule ahead is loaded. The Gators go to No.
19 Missouri next week, then host South Carolina. After that comes a road trip to No.
1 Texas, a bye, and a matchup with No. 2 Georgia in Atlanta.
The season finishes with Oklahoma, Kentucky on the road, Vanderbilt and Florida State on the road.
There are still reasons to keep the brakes on. Florida’s defense has allowed 799 yards over the last two weeks, and the Gators have been penalized 24 times. Ole Miss also played without star running back Kewan Lacy, who was sidelined by a shoulder injury, and the Rebels were coming off an emotional win over LSU last week.
Even so, this was the kind of result that says something real. Sumrall has Florida moving early, and after this one, the Gators look a lot more like a team that can matter in the SEC than one just trying to get back in the room.
In Other News...
Nick Saban Just Raised The Stakes For Florida Against Ole Miss QB
Nick Sabans latest TV turn landed right in the middle of Ole Miss momentum swing, and it came with a fresh dose of respect for Trinidad Chambliss. After Chambliss helped the Rebels beat LSU, the former Alabama coach praised him on The Pat McAfee Show and called him a top playmaker, a notable endorsement from someone who has spent years sizing up quarterbacks in the SEC.
Saban also made it clear he had learned his lesson after backing LSU before that matchup, saying he regretted picking against Chambliss and would not do it again. With Ole Miss headed toward Florida, the comment only adds a little more intrigue to a game that already carries plenty of attention, because now the Rebels quarterback arrives with a high-profile seal of approval and a fresh target on his back. [Read more 🡒]
Tennessee Fans Turned College GameDay Into A Lane Kiffin Message
Tennessee fans made their feelings about Lane Kiffin clear on ESPNs College GameDay ahead of their showdown with Texas, turning the pregame spotlight into a reminder of how deep the resentment still runs. Kiffin, now the head coach at LSU, has long been a sore spot in Knoxville because of his brief and contentious stint leading the Volunteers in 2009, and the crowd response underscored that the history never really faded.
The timing only added to the edge, with both SEC programs staring at demanding weeks ahead. LSU has Texas A&M coming up, while Tennessee now has to turn around and host Texas, keeping the focus on the field even as Kiffin once again became part of the conversation around the Vols. [Read more 🡒]
Alabamas SEC Title Position Just Got A Lot More Interesting
Week 4 is starting to reshape the SEC race, and the picture is suddenly a lot less settled than it looked a week ago. ESPN Analytics now has Texas and Georgia as the conferences leading contenders, with Texas at 33 percent and Georgia at 32 percent, but Alabama and Ole Miss are still very much in the mix as the league heads into another round of telling matchups.
For Ole Miss, the spotlight only gets brighter with a trip to Florida on deck, one of several games that could begin to separate the true contenders from the rest of the pack. Texas at Tennessee is another measuring-stick game on the slate, and with Alabama also facing a significant test ahead, the path to Atlanta already feels crowded and fragile in a way that should keep the SEC race interesting for a while longer. [Read more 🡒]