The 2018 Florida Gators football team represented the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in the

2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 2018. The regular season began on August 25, 2018, and ended ...

. The Gators played their home games at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. Florida played as a member of the Eastern Division of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC). They were led by first-year head coach

Dan Mullen Dan Mullen (born April 27, 1972) is a former college football player and coach, and current television analyst with the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and ESPN. He served as the head football coach at Mississippi State University from 2 ...

. Florida, coming off a 4–7 season in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

, began the year unranked. In the second game of the season, not only did the team lose to

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

for the first time since

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

, but they also lost to them at home for the first time since

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

, snapping a 31-game winning streak in the series. Florida won its next five games, including on the road against No. 23

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univer ...

and at home against No. 5

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

, rising to ninth in the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...

. They then lost two games to No. 7

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

and ended the conference regular season tied for second in the SEC East Division at 5–3. After closing the regular season by defeating rival

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

, they were invited to the

Peach Bowl The Peach Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Atlanta, Georgia since December 1968. Since 1997, it has been sponsored by Chick-fil-A and is officially known as the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. From 2006 to 2013, it was officially ...

, where they defeated No. 8

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

by a score of 41–15. The team finished with an overall record of 10–3, and in the season's final AP Poll, the team was ranked in a tie for seventh, the highest finish for the school since 2009. The team was led on offense by redshirt sophomore quarterback

Feleipe Franks Feleipe Franks (born December 22, 1997) is an American football tight end for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He played his first two years of college football at Florida and transferred to Arkansas for his final sea ...

, who finished with 2,457 passing yards, 24 passing touchdowns, and 7 rushing touchdowns. His 31 total touchdowns was tied for third in the Southeastern Conference. Running backs La'Mical Perine and Jordan Scarlett finished with 826 and 776 yards, respectively. Defensively, the team was led by defensive end Jachai Polite, who finished with 20 tackles for loss and was named first-team All-SEC.

Previous season

The Gators in

were led by third-year head coach

Jim McElwain James Frank McElwain (born March 1, 1962) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at Central Michigan University. He previously served as the head coach at Florida from 2015 to 2017, and Colorado State from 2012 to 2014, wh ...

through the end of October until his firing. Randy Shannon was named the interim head coach on October 29. They finished the season 4–7, 3–5 in SEC play to finish in fifth place in the Eastern Division.

Preseason

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

SEC media poll

The SEC media poll was released on July 20, 2018 with the Gators predicted to finish third in the East Division.

Preseason All-SEC teams

The Gators had eight players selected to the preseason all-SEC teams. Offense ''1st team''

Martez Ivey Martez Ivey (born July 25, 1995) is a professional gridiron football offensive tackle for the Edmonton Elks of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at Florida. High school career Ivey attended Apopka High School in ...

– OL ''3rd team'' Jordan Scarlett – RB Defense ''1st team'' CeCe Jefferson – DL ''2nd team'' C. J. Gardner-Johnson – DB C. J. Henderson – DB ''3rd team'' David Reese – LB Marco Wilson – DB Specialists ''3rd team'' Kadarius Toney – all purpose player

Schedule

Rankings

Game summaries

Charleston Southern

Kentucky

Colorado State

Tennessee

Mississippi State

LSU

Vanderbilt

Georgia

Missouri

South Carolina

Idaho

Florida State

Michigan (Peach Bowl)

Personnel

Roster

Redshirt * Injury icon 2

Injury

Coaching staff

Recruits

The Gators signed a total of 19 recruits.

Players drafted into the NFL

References

{{Florida Gators football navbox

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Florida Gators football seasons Peach Bowl champion seasons

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division o ...