One of the hallmarks of sports fandom these days is the compulsion to overreact to everything. The Florida Gators started the season 4-0. The Gators beat Auburn and then blew out an Ole Miss team coming off a win over LSU.
The Gators were suddenly the hottest team in the country. A serious playoff contender. Then they went on the road and lost to Missouri 45-17, and they actually sucked the entire time.
Anybody who moved them into the top 10 in their opinion polls or power ratings is a clown and should feel stupid. When you do these power ratings, it's important to avoid overreacting to any single result. Crazy things happen in sports all the time, and typically, if the game spread is 5.5 points but the final score shows a 28-point deficit, it's an outlier result.
It doesn't mean it isn't real, or that it was a fluke. It just means that, among the possible range of outcomes, the one we saw wasn't nearly as likely as many others. It doesn't mean Florida sucks.
While the Gators drop a few spots in the ratings this week, their defense was already a concern last week, even though I had them at No. 9. I didn't downgrade it much this week. What was downgraded was the offense, because Missouri took away the run game, and Florida didn't have much of a counter.
That's useful information. Frankly, the real takeaway I had from the game was that I hadn't given Missouri nearly enough credit. I liked the offense already, but I was far too low on their defense.
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