Things have not been going well for Florida football head coach Billy Napier in his second season on the sidelines in the Swamp. Coming into the season with one of the toughest schedules both in the Southeastern Conference as well as among Power Five schools, it was a steep hill to climb from the get-go for the Gators.
Unfortunately, the coaching staff does not appear to be up for the challenge this fall as the Orange and Blue has shown a tremendous amount of faults in its first five games in all three aspects of the game. Whether it is the offense getting shut down, the defense getting run over or the special teams acting a fool, the mistakes witnessed on the field all link back to the coaches.
Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde took a look at the struggling college football powerhouses that are running out of time to salvage their season, with Napier’s gang headlining the second quarter headline under the banner, “It’s getting late early.” He explains his choice in great detail, including the following excerpt.
“Florida has put two dispiriting, never-close losses around that stirring victory over Tennessee,” Forde began. “The Gators are a bad road team (0–2, outscored by 32 points, trailed by double digits at halftime of both). They’ve now lost three straight to former punching bag Kentucky, giving up 280 rushing yards to a single human (Ray Davis) Saturday. Their defense has produced just a single turnover. The school that won national titles with the innovating offenses of Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer hasn’t scored 30 points against FBS competition yet this year.”
“And then there are the special teams,” he continues. “Dear lord what a mess. Second-year coach Billy Napier has what is listed as a ‘GameChanger coordinator’ on the staff page. His name is Chris Couch, and he’s an analyst who works with special teams. The only game-changing his unit has done this season has been swinging games in favor of the opponent.
“The Gators are hoping that Napier can be their version of Texas’ Steve Sarkisian—that after taking over a blueblood in disarray, he can build toward a breakthrough. Sark went from 5–7 to 8–5, with his quarterback in place for Year Three, a good defense and a star receiver. So far, the third year has been the payoff: Texas is 5–0 and ranked No. 3 in the nation.
“Napier needs to follow Sark’s trajectory and produce a winning season, then work the portal for continued talent upgrades to go along with what at the moment is a top-five freshman class for ’24. This was never billed as a quick fix, and it hasn’t been. But Year Two needs to set up a big Year Three for Napier, or there won’t be a Year Four.”
Next up for the Orange and Blue are the Vanderbilt Commodores, who come to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 7, for the school’s homecoming game. Kickoff is slated for 4 p.m. EDT and the game can be watched on the SEC Network.
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