Florida Football Friday Final: Will Gators bounce back from demoralizing loss in Week 2 vs. Samford?

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Image Credit: Emma Bissell, UAA

The 2024 college football season begins Saturday. At least it does for the Florida Gators. Given the expansion of the College Football Playoff and murder’s row schedule that awaits Florida over the remainder of the campaign, a significant change in momentum over the new two weeks can make the kickoff game loss to Miami feel like a distant memory. The question that stands entering Saturday’s game against the FCS Samford Bulldogs is whether the Gators are capable of such change.

Asked this week what went wrong against the Hurricanes in as demoralizing a game as has been played inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium this century, head coach Billy Napier basically ran down a shopping list of problems and mistakes. Florida …

• Didn’t block well on offense
• Lacked precision in passing game
• Failed to convert third downs (none in the first half)
• Could not sustain drives
• Lacked consistency in all phases
• Amassed two critical penalties on defense that led to touchdowns
• Struggled to affect the quarterback
• Suffered communication errors in the secondary
• Lacked precision on offense and subsequently pressed

(That list actually leaves a few items on the cutting room floor.)

Napier said the Gators were “embarrassed” last Saturday with the team aware it is capable of doing better. He maintained that good stuff was put on tape defensively — claiming the unit would shore up some of those aforementioned mistakes soon — and that Florida’s special teams was the brightest spot on film.

“It kind of puts your back against the wall a little bit in terms of long-term, some of your goals,” Napier said. He added: “It’s obvious we’re very frustrated with how we performed last week. There’s only one way to fix that, and it’s to perform better this week.”

Much ado about nothing

Fervor was raised this week over a line Napier uttered during his Monday press conference. Asked how he is directing players and coaches to block out criticism and focus on the task at hand, the Gators coach provided a thorough answer that had one sentence singled out (italicized below) by a social media account; of course, it spread like wildfire.

“One thing I can say is we have a group that’s working hard. I do think that we have character. We got to go to work on the football part. I think we got to become a more consistent team and we have to execute better,” he said.

“If we can focus on those things and not necessarily what some guy in his basement is saying in rural central Florida on social media, then we got a chance to get better, right? I think that’s the key. Sometimes, you deserve criticism. I think that’s one of those things I would say, ‘I have no excuses,’ right? We got to go get it fixed.”

Nothing about Napier’s comment was out of line; he was simply providing an example to his larger point. And yet, he was criticized up and down for what was largely a basic statement. (Truthfully, the most offensive part of Napier’s answer was his lack of understanding that Florida residents do not have basements.)

He nevertheless made amends — for getting taken out of context by others — on Wednesday despite no contrition actually being necessary. Something Dan Mullen certainly would never have done, right or wrong.

Napier also addressed blocking out noise in the system this week and going forward.

“We’ve got a responsibility to represent this place, and we need to do it better,” he said. “I’ll keep it very blunt: As coaches, we need to do our part to help the players. Obviously, we have a handful of players that can play better as well. It’s part of the job. Ultimately, I would tell you that, whether it’s failure or success, you’re always managing that part of the job, regardless of where you’re at.

“It’s critical that you set the tone from a leadership standpoint. You’ve got to be a really good example to the players. You try to keep it technical. You try to make them realize: When you do it right, you get a good return; when you make mistakes, when you’re playing a really high-quality opponent, the margin of error is small, you get exposed.”

Go, DJ

Five-star freshman quarterback DJ Lagway steps in as the starter this week with redshirt senior Graham Mertz sidelined while still in concussion protocol. OnlyGators.com wrote about that earlier this week.

Napier had more to say, though, about Lagway’s opportunity: “I’ve got a ton of confidence in DJ. We’ve had him since January. He’s a completely different person and player than he was when he first arrived. He’s got a really good knowledge of our system.”

Napier insinuated that the playbook will look different this week with the goal being to take advantage of Lagway’s skill set. He was not asked whether he might bring back some of the plays utilized for Anthony Richardson, but given he has been the play caller at Florida, that makes a lot of sense.

On that note, Napier was asked whether co-offensive coordinator Russ Callaway, who was elevated to that job this offseason, would be calling plays. He avoided two questions on the subject instead saying that he is focused on giving Callaway a “bigger piece of the pie” when it comes to game planning.

Samford being an FCS opponent with a weaker comparative defense to Miami should open some pathways for success. However, Napier also thought the Gators would have more success against the Cane last week.

“Offensively, I was a little surprised, to be quite honest with you. I thought we’d play much better. That’s just the honest truth,” he said.

Odds & ends

• Florida will be down multiple defenders for Week 2 with at least three starters set to miss the game. Check out the updated depth chart and injury updates.
  
• Napier on sophomore linebacker Grayson “Pup” Howard: “Pup did a lot of good things. Pup’s a good communicator. Pup’s a big, long, rangy players He’s got play strengths. He has character. He’s very consistent. You know what you’re going to get. He’s one of the first in the building. He’s one of the last to leave. Sometimes, I’ll be heading down here and I’ll see him walking out of the building. He’s that type of player. He watches film. He’s, definitely, one of the best younger players that we have. He’s got a bright future.”
  
• Napier sharing confidence the offensive line will improve: “I see guys like Jake Slaughter stand up and say that will never happen again. That’s what I see. And I see coaches accepting the challenge as well. Ultimately, those guys understand that, if we’re going to have a football team, a quality football team, it’s always going to start up front. Who ever had a great team without a good offensive line? Who ever had a really good offensive unit without a great offensive line? And the film is who we are at this point. No matter how much work we’ve done since the first day of the offseason until now, we went out there and we put that on tape. OK, so, that’s who we are. There’s only one way to fix that, and it’s to put good tape together one week at a time moving forward. So, they’re itching to get back out there because they’re embarrassed.”