With the first College Football Playoff vote taking place in less than 24 hours, sports publication The Athletic released its weekly “vibe check” for teams in the SEC.
Senior writer Seth Emerson likes to ponder how each football program is feeling at the moment and ranks them based on the preseason expectations, recent play and general vibes. After the rivalry game loss, the Orange and Blue are ranked No. 7 on his list.
Emerson notes this week that the Florida faithful has been having trouble putting their trust in second-year head coach Billy Napier.
“This might become a pattern with Gator fans,” Emerson wrote. “For a while, they’re optimistic about Billy Napier, then something happens to worry them about him, then they get excited again, and then they lose another game, but maybe it’s better to do it this way. Jim McElwain and Dan Mullen, and even Will Muschamp, had pretty good starts, but when it went bad it went bad quick.”
Florida fans have certainly been back and forth about Napier’s job safety. The sky was falling after Week 1 when the Gators lost by double-digits to the Utah Utes in Salt Lake City, and the fans were certainly calling for Napier’s head after the next road loss to Kentucky.
Napier has built a strong future for the Gators and has a great rapport with the next couple batches of recruits, ranking at No. 3 on the 247Sports scale.
Florida will try to increase the vibes when they host the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday in The Swamp. It will be the first-ever blackout game in school history. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. EST and is slated to broadcast on ESPN2.
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