We’ll be seeing ample Gator chomps the rest of the way this season.

Coming out of Saturday’s 52-28 statement win over previously unbeaten and No. 4 Ole Miss, the No. 21 Gators look the part in the early season College Football Playoff conversation and have a surging Heisman candidate leading their backfield in Jadan Baugh.

Jon Sumrall is trying to become the fifth first-year coach all-time to reach the CFP in his first campaign. He’d join four others across the Power Four to accomplish that feat, but would make history as the first from the SEC. 

The win for the Gators snapped a four-game losing skid against ranked competition and was Florida’s first victory over a top-five opponent since 2020 (Georgia).

The Gators had lost their previous 12 matchups against the nation’s elite, and Sumrall joked that, coming into Saturday’s showdown, his team has no business being favored against the Rebels.

First-year coaches to reach College Football Playoff

The telling sign of a well-coached team with no signs of wilting is its ability to respond, and the Gators reflected that in the third quarter, absorbing body blows before punching back. 

Florida broke open a 24-21 game in the second half with consecutive touchdown drives predicated by the power running of Baugh and Duke Clark along with quarterback Aaron Philo’s precision on third down.

Ole Miss entered Week 4 with the SEC’s worst rush defense, giving up 159 yards per game, and nothing changed inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Baugh and Clark combined for 268 yards on the ground, both eclipsing the 100-yard barrier — the first time that’s happened in the same game for Florida since 2022.

That’s part of the new identity Sumrall mentioned earlier this week.

“I think our mindset has changed,” Sumrall said. “I think we’re playing with a different level of resiliency and toughness than what I felt like was going on here when I got here. And I think our guys expect to win. So that’s one component I think that I’m pleased with. How we play the game, some detail, some consistency.

“There’s a lot of areas where you still have to improve upon a lot to become the type of team we want to be long term. And so we’re a long way from a finished product here. We haven’t even begun to scratch the surface for what my vision is for how we play this game week in, week out.”

Is Florida back?

That’s two SEC tests and two wins for a first-year coach who has Florida looking like a factor — not only in the SEC race — in the national championship discussion. Sumrall inherited a talented roster, but he deserves credit for getting this much out of it this quickly.

For the first time since 2021, Florida will be a top-15 team in Sunday’s new AP poll entering October with all of the program’s lofty goals still out front. It’s a weekly grind in the SEC, and anything can happen over the Gators’ final eight games, but this looks like a team capable of reaching the CFP and being a tough out, given this roster embodies its coach’s mindset.

Sumrall said his players looked “a little bit over-amped” after the first quarter ended with a failed fourth-and-2 conversion try at the Rebels’ 19-yard line. Florida had a comfortable 10-point lead, and Philo had a man open in the flat for a potential touchdown but failed to execute.

In the past, the Gators’ offense might have folded after that or struggled to regain confidence with Trinidad Chambliss and an elite passing game on the other sideline. However, all of the opposition’s counter jabs were answered with force as Florida barged its way into the national spotlight.

With Buster Faulkner calling the plays and a renewed focus on physicality off the snap, the Gators are scoring points in bunches with an onslaught of explosive plays. Florida’s 214 points are the most through the first four games of a season since 1996 — when the Gators won the national title under Steve Spurrier.

Elite territory for Sumrall and Co.