The Gators are No. 9 in the AP Top 25 and No. 10 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
While the final rankings show tremendous progress for Florida in coach Will Muschamp's second season, last week's Sugar Bowl performance against Louisville dropped the Gators a good bit.
Each poll ranked Florida No. 4 at the end of the regular season.
Florida (11-2) finished behind two teams in the both polls - South Carolina and Texas A&M - that were 11-2 and fell to the Gators. Florida State, 37-26 losers to Florida at home, finished two spots ahead of the Gators in the coaches poll.
Texas A&M lost by three points to Florida in the Aggies' first SEC game, and were as good as anyone by season's end, including Alabama, which lost at home to A&M. The Gamecocks, though, lost by 33 points at the Swamp, while Florida whipped FSU on its homefield.
But the Gators' no-show in the Sugar Bowl weighed on the voters' mind, for good reason.
Meanwhile, Louisville, which led Florida 30-10 eight seconds into the second half of the Sugar Bowl, finished No. 13 in both polls.