It has not been the easiest season for Billy Napier and the Florida Gators this fall, who currently hold a 4-2 record at the halfway point of the schedule. The 2023 campaign was expected to be a bruiser, both at the conference level as well as among fellow Power Five schools.
The second-year skipper and his crew have managed to scratch and claw their way to a winning record so far, but the thick of the Southeastern Conference gauntlet still lies ahead. However, nobody has a crystal ball to predict the future, but one can take a look at the past to see how well the program is coming along on the field.
CBS Sports’ Barrett Sallee published his midseason grades for all 14 SEC schools on Tuesday, rightfully assigning Napier and Co. a perfectly mediocre “C” grade for their efforts so far.
“The Gators are 4-2, which includes a dominating win over No. 19 Tennessee,” Sallee began. “However, the defense got torched by Kentucky two weeks ago and the offense hasn’t been able to find the consistency needed to contend for the SEC East title.
“The silver lining to this season is that first-year starting quarterback Graham Mertz leads the conference in completion percentage (80%) through six games after transferring in from Wisconsin.”
No other team earned an even C grade, but the LSU Tigers and Auburn Tigers did earn a C-plus score while the Mississippi State Bulldogs, South Carolina Gamecocks and Vanderbilt Commodores all earned C-minuses. It appears that Sallee applied the bell curve rather appropriately to his data.
Next up for Florida is a trip to Columbia, South Carolina, to face Spencer Rattler and the Gamecocks on Saturday, Oct. 14, inside William-Brice Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 3:30 p.m. EDT and the game can be watched on the SEC Network.
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