Florida loses a HOME game to Mississippi while USC loses a ROAD game north of the Mason-Dixon line. Why should Florida hop over USC? Because they beat overrated Georgia and LSU? Really, who have either of those teams beaten? Georgia got credit for beating 2-5 Arizona State? LSU beats... who? Honestly, SEC non-conf games are a joke.
Las Vegas Sports Consultants rate USC as the best team in the country. They'd be favored in a bowl game against anyone else at a neutral site. It's not their fault that the Pac-10 is underrated.
LVSC had Michigan as a favorite over Notre Dame a few weeks back. You really think they are some geniuses and have it all down. Just because they have USC as a favorite doesnt mean they are going to win or should win. It means USC is a favorite in order to keep the amount of money balanced on both sides of the game. USC is always going to be the favorite no matter what. They get that much public money on them, not because they are magically the best team out there. If they were the best team they would not have gotten dominated by Oregon St.
As far as UF, this is a reason why down the road a 1-loss team like Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St or Texas Tech could claim they should be ahead of UF (and USC for that matter). But the SEC competition is still far superior to anything the Pac10 could compare to, even if UGa and LSU are overrated, they are still better than the 3rd and 4th best teams out of the Pac 10.
Poor Pete...maybe he should go back to the NFL where rankings dont play a part in how his team is perceived