The good news is the Florida Gators are 1-0 in 2019. The bad news is that it escaped with a lackluster performance over an unranked team.

Yes, Miami is better than most thought, and yes, Florida has much to clean up before it plays Kentucky in Week 3. The Gators have to fix the poor tackling, penalties and turnovers.

But it’s a great time to remind Florida fans that the Gators didn’t look like a 10-win team after last year’s loss to Kentucky either. Still, Mullen knows he has to fix some issues, but he was proud of the way his team fought and beat rival Miami.

“I’ll tell you what, though,” Mullen said after beating Miami. “I really loved the way that our guys continued to battle, continued to compete, continued to try to find a way to win for the entire four quarters, you know. … I’m going to tell you what. Our guys compete. They competed and they competed and they kept competing and kept battling. It seemed like we had to win the game about four different times, but we continued to do that. And so I’m really proud of that.”

On Sunday morning, ESPN released its updated Football Power Index top 25, and Florida fell from No. 8 to No. 9. Auburn jumped the Gators without even playing a game.

The AP Top 25 Poll won’t be released until after Week 1; so, we won’t know how voters rank the Gators after an ugly win over the Hurricanes.