The start of the Southeastern Conference schedule has been a wild one for the Florida basketball program, dropping its first game in a shootout at the Kentucky Wildcats before blowing out the top-ranked Tennessee Volunteers at home.

The ‘Cats snapped the Gators’ 13-game winning streak to open the season in a game that saw both teams combine for 206 points. The win over the Vols was by a 30-point margin and saw Todd Golden’s gang go wire-to-wire with the lead, improving to 14-1 overall.

While that defeat still stings, things are looking good for the Orange and Blue moving forward. The major polls have not had a chance to respond to Florida’s first-ever home win against a No. 1 team, but many of the other rankings have.

Among them is CBS Sports’ weekly power rankings put together by Kyle Boone. After slipping from third to fourth in last week’s update before the UK game, Boone now has the Gators down eight spots at No. 12 despite the result against the Vols.

“Falling eight spots feel too penal for Florida after a close loss at Kentucky and a beatdown of previously unbeaten Tennessee. But I couldn’t rank Kentucky in the top 10, and I couldn’t have Florida above Kentucky after losing to the Wildcats,” he notes.

“So consider this the most respect I’ve ever given to the No. 12 team in the power rankings. The (Gators) rebounded from their UK loss by beating Tennessee 73-43 (!!!!!!) on Tuesday. Yowza.”

It certainly does not feel respectful after steamrolling the best team in the nation.

CBS Sports Power Rankings Explained

“Ranking teams with an emphasis on recent performance based on their level of competition. These are heavily unscientific in nature and can be distilled down to a “vibes” ranking — with things like margin of victory, injuries, performance vs. top competition, momentum and other sometimes subjective factors weighing into the equation.

“The power rankings can be thought of in a weekly setting as a reaction — or sometimes even an overreaction — to the small sample of the week that was.”

Next up for Florida

The Gators return to the road to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks in Fayetteville on Saturday, Jan. 11. Tipoff is slated for 4 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.

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