Muschamp's inaugural Gators team has at least one advantage over Spurrier's first team
Sunday, August 21, 2011 | Football, Men's Golf, Scott Carter
The preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll is out and the Gators check in at No. 22.
That's one spot ahead of where the Gators checked in earlier this month in the preseason USA Today Coaches poll.
Asked his thoughts on the Gators' No. 22 ranking on Saturday, first-year Gators head coach was brief and to the point.
"I could care less about the poll,'' Muschamp said.
Muschamp probably could care less about this little factoid either, but an interesting side note to Florida's AP ranking is that Muschamp will have a Gators team ranked in his first game as Florida's coach, something Steve Spurrier did not.
In Spurrier's first game at Florida, he led the unranked Gators to a 50-7 win over Oklahoma State on Sept. 8, 1990. It was the only time in Spurrier's 150 games as Florida's head coach that the Gators played without being ranked in the AP Top 25.
Here is a look at where the Gators ranked in the AP Top 25 in the inaugural game of UF head coaches since Bob Woodruff's debut in 1950:
--Urban Meyer (No. 10 Gators beat Wyoming, 32-14, in Meyer's debut on Sept. 3, 2005)
--Charlie Strong (No. 19 Gators lost to Miami, 27-10, in the Peach Bowl on Dec. 31, 2004 in Strong's only game as head coach)
--Ron Zook (No. 6 Gators beat UAB, 51-3, in Zook's debut on Aug. 31, 2002; the only time Gators have opened a season unranked in AP Top 25 since Spurrier's first game came in 2003 when unranked Gators opened Zook's second season with a 65-3 win over San Jose State)
--Gary Darnell (No. 25 Gators beat Vanderbilt, 34-11, in Darnell's debut as Florida's coach after taking over for Galen Hall in sixth game of the 1989 season)
--Galen Hall (Hall replaced Charley Pell four games into the 1984 season and led the unranked Gators to a 27-12 win over Mississippi State in his first game as head coach on Sept. 29, 1984)
--Charley Pell (In Pell's debut on Sept. 15, 1979, unranked Gators lost to Houston 14-10)
--Doug Dickey (No. 15 Gators opened the Dickey era with a 21-19 win over Duke on Sept. 12, 1970)
--Ray Graves (Unranked Gators kicked off the Graves era with a 30-7 win over George Washington on Sept. 17, 1960)
--Bob Woodruff (Unranked Gators beat The Citadel, 7-3, in Woodruff's first game on Sept. 23, 1950)
