Florida jumps to No. 8 in Week 7 AP Poll: Gators make top 10 for first time since 2013

When Jim McElwain was hired by Florida in December 2014, one of the expectations was that he would eventually make the Gators a top-10 team again.

Virtually no one thought he would take just six games to do so.

And yet, the top 10 of the AP Top 25 poll is where the Gators find themselves entering Week 7 of the 2015 season, vaulting another three spots from No. 11 to No. 8 in this week's just-released rankings.

For Florida, it's the first top-10 ranking since the 2013 preseason. The Gators shed that ranking quickly in 2013, falling to No. 12 after struggling with Toledo in their opener, and, after a loss to Miami one week later, were never again in range to return to the top 10 under Will Muschamp.

Florida was No. 11 last week, and then-No. 10 Oklahoma's loss to Texas practically assured the Gators of a jump, but Florida also leaped both Texas A&M and Alabama.

Historically, the No. 8 ranking has been a bit of a good-luck charm for Florida: The Gators are 13-2 as the AP's No. 8 team all-time, their best record by winning percentage of any of the top 20 slots in the AP Poll.

Heading into a showdown at No. 6 LSU, the Gators will take all the luck they can get.