Florida’s revival under Jon Sumrall gathered considerable momentum as the 21st-ranked Gators overwhelmed #4 Ole Miss 52–28 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

Jadan Baugh rushed for 142 yards and three touchdowns, while Duke Clark added 126 yards and another score as Florida battered the Rebels for 302 yards on the ground. The Gators finished with 498 yards of total offense and improved to 4–0 in Sumrall’s first season in Gainesville.

Ole Miss arrived as one of the early campaign’s most persuasive College Football Playoff contenders, having already beaten ranked opponents Louisville and LSU. The Rebels left having conceded their highest points total since 2020 and with their previously unbeaten record emphatically removed.

Florida took control through a running game Ole Miss could not contain. Baugh carried 29 times and Clark required only 12 attempts to reach three figures, giving offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner two distinctly different ways to attack a Rebels defense that had restricted LSU to 63 rushing yards a week earlier. Quarterback Aaron Philo completed 16 of 23 passes for 142 yards and a touchdown, adding another score on the ground. Five different Gators reached the end zone as Florida turned what had been billed as one of Saturday’s six ranked match-ups to watch into a demonstration of the pecking order’s ability to change rapidly.

Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss entered the weekend amid early Heisman Trophy discussion after throwing for 363 yards in the win over LSU. Florida, however, prevented him from generating another rescue act while consistently keeping the Rebels under pressure at the other end. The result also offered further evidence of the pace at which Sumrall has restored confidence to a programme that won only two SEC games last season. Florida’s 4–0 start is its first since 2019, while the Gators have already scored more than 200 points under their new coach.

“We’re still not a finished product,” Sumrall told ESPN after the game, resisting the temptation to treat September success as proof that Florida’s reconstruction is complete, especially as more demanding tests await, including road games against Texas and Georgia.

For now, however, Florida has earned a reappraisal, having been stronger at the line of scrimmage, deeper in the backfield and comfortably the better team. Ole Miss, meanwhile, will likely tumble from the top five after its first defeat under Pete Golding.