In his post-game comments, Florida head coach [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] landed on the same word most Gators fans used to describe Saturday’s, 41-17, loss to the Miami Hurricanes.
“It’s embarrassing, to be quite honest with you,” Napier said. “It’s how I feel. It’s how our kids feel. We’ve got a decision to make. That’s what I just told them. There’s no excuses. Keep our mouths shut, show up and work, and we have to do better. Just keep it simple. That’s how I feel, and I do think that our players will show up and they will respond.”
There are two ways to play things after a three-score loss against a rival to open the season. You can fold and give up before even playing a second game, or you can figure out what went wrong and improve in those areas as much as possible from week to week.
Napier sounds like he’s in favor of the latter, which makes sense after entering the season on an already scorching hot seat, but he knows it’s up to the players.
Saturday’s outcome surprised everyone wearing Orange and Blue, and Napier didn’t have the knowledge or words to explain things in his post-game presser. Some more clarity should come on Monday once the coaching staff has a chance to review the film, but Florida failed the eye test miserably in Week 1 and Napier isn’t shying away from saying so.
“They beat us today, and I don’t have a ton of excuses,” he said. “I think we struggled to produce any running game outside of one explosive (play). Obviously, (we) didn’t create a ton of explosives, and then obviously, we had a couple of key penalties. And then defensively, outside of third down, didn’t do much.
“I do think there were a few bright spots in the kicking game, but overall Miami outplayed us. They outcoached us and give them the credit. I do think there are things that we can do better. There’s no question there were mistakes made.”
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