GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida coach Billy Napier insists he still has confidence in his team.
The bigger question: How much conviction do the Gators’ decision-makers have about Napier?
Cam Ward threw for 385 yards and three touchdowns, leading No. 19 Miami to a 41-17 romping at Florida that sent fans scurrying for the exits in the third quarter and raised speculation about Napier’s job security.
“I don’t have a ton of excuses,” Napier said.
No one could blame the Gators for losing faith in Napier’s ability to turn around a program that has endured three consecutive losing seasons and looked completely overmatched to open another.
Napier fell to 11-15 in Gainesville, including 2-10 against ranked opponents and 1-8 against rivals Miami, Florida State, Georgia, LSU and Tennessee. The Gators lost their sixth consecutive game overall and witnessed the end of their 33-game winning streak in home openers, a run that started with Steve Spurrier’s arrival in 1990.
Now, Napier has the same number of losses at Florida Field in two-plus seasons (five) as Spurrier had in a dozen years.
“This game won’t define us,” Florida linebacker Shemar James said. “It was the first of many games and, unfortunately, we took the loss. But that’s why we’re going to next game. We got what, 10, 11, more? So just keep going uphill.”
Napier’s buyout would be a little more than $25 million for the Gators to fire him during or after this season. But the fact his buyout is common knowledge points to how dysfunctional his tenure has been.
Napier’s latest loss was his worst at home. Miami scored on six of its first eight possessions and led 38-10 midway through the third quarter. It got so lopsided at one point that the Hurricanes took over “I Won’t Back Down,” the team’s in-game tribute to Gainesville-born Tom Petty.
“It’s embarrassing, to be quite honest with you,” Napier said. “That’s how I feel. That’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. We have to do better.”
This year was supposed to be different. Napier responded to last year’s 5-7 campaign by layering nearly every aspect of the program. He hired a new defensive coordinator, a new special teams coordinator, a new strength and conditioning coach and a new nutritionist.
Little looked different to begin Year 3 and now Napier has to hope “The U” is a legit national championship contender to soften his worst home loss.
“It’s embarrassing, to be quite honest with you,” Napier said. “That’s how I feel. That’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. We have to do better.”
Among the most egregious miscues: Napier, who retained play-calling duties despite outside cries for him to give them up, dialed up runs on two third-and-5 plays. And his defense committed two roughing the passer penalties to extend first-half drives that led to touchdowns.
“I felt strongly that we would perform better,” Napier said. “But I’m not here to make excuses. We’ve got to get it fixed. We’re going to get another opportunity next week, and we’ve got to play better and coach better.”
Florida was supposed to be better everywhere, but Napier really expected a defensive jump. He made significant changes on that side of the ball, including signing five potential starters from the transfer portal.
But the unit that allowed 38.3 points a game during the team’s five-game losing streak to end 2023 picked up where it left off, giving up a whopping 529 yards and 41 points to Miami at home. The only team to top 500 yards against Florida last year was LSU and eventual Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels.
“They executed when we didn’t,” James said. “They took advantage of our mistakes, and that’s how the scoreboard turned out. Just self-inflicted wounds.”
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