Florida and Texas Have Been Exceptionally Inconsistent. Where Do They Go From Here?

College football coaches keep bringing up consistency. Duke coach Manny Diaz called it a buzzword amid a particularly chaotic stretch for the sport.

“Everyone’s having a really hard time figuring out who’s good and who’s not good, and how can this team be good on this week and then all of a sudden turn around the next week and look terrible and whatever,” Diaz said earlier this month. “I think what you see is there are just a lot of good teams, and the hardest part is to be the same team every week. The hardest part is to be consistent, to be consistently good.”

The eight top-10 teams that have lost since Diaz said that on Oct. 6 would have to agree.

Texas alone accounts for two of those defeats. Once ranked the No. 1 team in the nation, the Longhorns have now dropped back-to-back games to unranked opponents. Last week’s loss to Oklahoma, as devastating as it was, can be chalked up to the Red River Rivalry’s unpredictability. But following that up with a 27-24 home loss to floundering Florida and a backup quarterback is indicative of larger concerns for an incredibly inconsistent Texas team.

The upset cuts both ways for the Gators, who have shown themselves to be every bit a Jekyll-and-Hyde team. Florida went from unranked to No. 8 in less than a month. Back-to-back blowout losses dropped the Gators all the way back out of the rankings, but they’re soon to make a return after another big win.

Saturday’s shocking result presents pressing questions for two talented, albeit flawed SEC squads whose College Football Playoff aspirations are up in the air. What is the real version of Texas and Florida? And can the No. 7 Longhorns (4-2) or Gators (5-2) find some level of consistency in the second half of the season?

Texas has a turnover problem. It also might have an Arch Manning problem. Those are uncomfortable facts to face for a team that reportedly cost $50 million to assemble, with a member of football’s first family as its face.

The Longhorns had a chance to win — or at least tie — the game late against the Gators. Trailing 27-24 with 2:27 remaining in the fourth quarter, Texas got the ball back on its own 46-yard line.

Manning didn’t need to go far to get his team in field-goal range. Two plays later, he was strip-sacked, effectively handing the game to Florida.

It was eerily similar to last week’s game against Oklahoma. Manning threw a pair of fourth-quarter interceptions that gave the Sooners the lead and set them up for the game-winning field goal. Manning said he wanted to be in that situation again. Given the opportunity for redemption, the outcome was the same.

The Gators’ defense was the laughingstock of the SEC heading into this matchup. Missouri lit Florida up for 45 points and 560 yards of offense two weeks ago. South Carolina scored 38 points and accumulated 393 total yards against this group last Saturday.

Texas tallied just 24 points and 272 yards as a double-digit favorite at home. Manning was often under siege, evidenced by five sacks, but he hardly elevated his team’s hopes of winning against an opponent that repeatedly shot itself in the foot with a comedy of errors in the first half.

Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian was blunt after the game. “We’re not playing good offensive football right now,” he said, “so everything is going to be evaluated.”

Could that mean a quarterback change? It hardly seems like the time for a pivot with a brutal stretch ahead. Look at Texas’ next four opponents: No. 9 Ole Miss, No. 16 Mississippi State, at No. 13 Missouri and at No. 22 LSU.

But on the other hand, something has to change for the Longhorns. This was their first home loss since 2024, their first year in the SEC. It’s also the first time they’ve lost back-to-back games in the same season since 2021, Sarkisian’s first year at the helm. This is his sixth.

Texas has wins over then-No. 1 Ohio State (which just beat Indiana) and then-No. 14 Tennessee (which just upset Alabama). It also has losses to unranked Oklahoma and Florida. The margin for error is gone. If the Longhorns don’t run the table, they are in danger of missing the College Football Playoff for the second consecutive season. A 24-team field won’t save them from that embarrassment just yet.

Florida coach Jon Sumrall is not under nearly the same level of scrutiny as Sarkisian — yet. This is his first season in charge of the program, and he has already surpassed the win total of the 2025 team before Halloween.

Sumrall is right on track to bring the program back to a bowl game for the first time since 2024. But what plagued his predecessor, Billy Napier, was inconsistency. Believe it or not, the Gators won some big games under. This was its first road win over a top-10 team since 2012, but Florida beat a top-10 Texas team at home last season, too.

The issue is the delta between the highs and the lows. The Gators were the talk of the sport after they routed then-No. 4 Ole Miss at home less than a month ago. Then Missouri and South Carolina made a fool of them in back-to-back weeks, ending their short stay in the top 25. Now that they’re back up, is another letdown soon to follow?

The remainder of the schedule is surprisingly manageable. Florida gets a week off before a game against rival Georgia, which is sure to lose its top ranking after a loss to Auburn on Saturday. No. 15 Kentucky is the only other top-25 team left on its schedule. But just like Texas, the Gators have already used up all of their leeway in the loss column. It’s a lot to expect them to run the table.

The Florida defense that traveled to Texas will do just fine the rest of the way. Running back Jadan Baugh looked like himself for the first time since the Ole Miss game. And in quarterback Aaron Philo’s absence, Tramell Jones Jr. stepped up in his first start, outplayed Manning and moved the ball against a fierce defense.

The question for the Gators now is who will start at quarterback against the Bulldogs: Jones or Philo?

The answer boils down to the point that Diaz raised: Teams are trying to maintain consistency. Whichever one of them gives Florida the best chance to replicate its performance against Texas will get the nod going forward as the Gators try to get off this rollercoaster.