Week 2 of the Billy Napier era at the University of Florida ended much differently than Week 1. Not only did the Gators fall 26-16 against a short-handed Kentucky Wildcats team, but Napier’s play calling indicated that he doesn’t trust the team entirely and [autotag]Anthony Richardson[/autotag] looked like anything but a Heisman candidate.
The loss brings Florida to 1-1 on the season and gives Kentucky the advantage in the SEC East standings. The Gators needed to overcome both UK and Tennessee to give them a chance at upsetting Georgia in the conference standings, but now they’ll have to hope for a mistake from one of those teams and still beat the Volunteers and Bulldogs to make it.
Had Florida played anywhere near the level it did against Utah, the Gators win this game. Richardson looked over-eager from the start and that turned into a panic in the second half. The defense kept it close for as long as possible, but mistakes and aggressive playcalling backed them into a corner where there was no good way out.
No, the answer isn’t to fire Napier and bring in [autotag]Jalen Kitna[/autotag] at quarterback, but there were some big lessons learned from Florida’s loss Saturday to Kentucky. Here are five takeaways from game two of the Billy Napier era of Florida football.