Image Credit: Madilyn Gemme, UAA
The toughest schedule in the nation this season only got more difficult — based on top 25 rankings — after just one week of the 2025 campaign. The No. 13 Florida Gators, fresh off their most dominant win (against the weakest opponent) under head coach Billy Napier, will be forced to level up significantly when they welcome the South Florida Bulls to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday.
While USF is a Group of Five team, it’s one that Florida previously struggled to beat under Napier — 3-point home win in 2022 — and a program coming off a dominant 34-7 win over then-No. 25 Boise State last week. In other words, the Bulls will step onto Florida Field at least up for the challenge against a Gators team that has frequently played down to competition under this regime.
“The film itself of Game 1 gets the attention of the players. It doesn’t hurt that Boise was obviously a playoff team and ranked in the top 25,” Napier said Monday. “… Elite competitors, they go back to work and get consumed with improving. … There was enough on this tape to make us restless. … This is a huge game for us, and we totally understand the dynamic when it comes to this team.”
Digging deeper into the box score and game flow, South Florida’s win over Boise State was far closer than the final score indicates. The Broncos had 10 more first downs, possessed the ball 13 more minutes and won the yardage battle; however, three untimely lost fumbles — along with a turnover-free performance for the Bulls — made the game a relative no contest.
Napier will be tasked with mitigating Florida’s confidence after a 55-0 win over LIU. Aiding him to that end is some rough offensive film that shows sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway struggling with consistency in the first quarter and the offensive line playing a significant part in allowing 11 tackles for loss against a lower-tier FCS opponent. The defense dominated as expected, but again, the competition will be significantly deeper and more talented in Week 2.
“I don’t think there was 11 [missed tackles],” Napier said, “but there was too many.” Some of it was new scheme — very unique scheme, might I add, a little bit all over the place. But once we got that identified, we settled in there. It’s not concerning. It’s more just players doing what they’re supposed to do. All players contribute to that. … We got to start with a little bit more detail.”
Let’s take a look at what was learned and shared going into the second game of the 2025 season.
Balancing levels: As will be the case every game this season, no member of the Gators will garner more attention than Lagway. The second-year single caller did complete 15 of 18 passes in Week 1, but he only tallied 120 yards passing despite tossing three touchdowns. Given that was basically the first work from scrimmage in which Lagway participated, there is undoubtedly room for improvement — neither Napier nor Lagway shied away from that fact. Napier further clarified the situation when meeting with the media Wednesday: “There’s no replacement for actually playing and praticin the game … but you gotta rip the Band-Aid off and get back in the mix. You’re playing tackle football, the pocket’s live,” he said. “… He’s on a mission this week. He’s showed up with an edge every day. He’s excited about getting back out there and proving he can play better.”
Smack-ing it: While Lagway left a lot to be desired last week, perhaps no player’s struggles were as shocking as those of senior kicker Trey Smack. After drilling 18 of 21 field goals and all 44 extra point attempts last season, Smack missed three field goals in the opener — matching his 2024 total in just 60 minutes of game clock — despite hitting a career-long try. Napier not only remains unconcerned about Smack’s miscues, he shared an extraordinary level of confidence in the fourth-year special teamer when asked how he progressed through the week.
Napier said Smack has been showcasing an edge all week, and he was outstanding in practice hitting 6 of 6 field goals in one session. “He hit all three of [the misses] really well [Saturday] — they were deep. The one he missed was short, kind of punched it. We’re talking about inches on all three – literally, combined, maybe half a yard. … Nobody needs to be jumping off a bridge out there. The guy is an elite competitor, and he’s phenomenal at his job. … Great shooters, when they miss early, they don’t stop shooting.”
Jones-ing for more snaps: The converse of Smack last Saturday was freshman QB Tramell Jones Jr., who impressed in his first career collegiate snaps. Nearly flawless with the ball, Jones flashed immense talent despite his inexperience. Napier explained how Jones simply showed off what he had been doing in practice over the latter half of fall camp. “It’s been impressive to watch him. He’s intelligent. He’s got some presence, maturity, it’s not too big for him. He’s very coachable,” the coach said. “Early, he struggled with the big bodies in the pocket … once he kind of got comfortable with keeping his eyes down the field and working the pocket, he has continued to impress us. Extremely accurate. Spin rate and velocity on the ball is elite. … I was impressed, eye to eye, watching him.”
Lying in wait: While redshirt sophomore wide receiver Eugene Wilson III boasts incredible athleticism and immense upside, he’s rarely actually shown it while wearing the orange & blue. Wilson averaged only 8.8 yards per reception as a freshman and has yet to hit the 100-yard mark against an FBS opponent. Against LIU, he caught five passes and scored a touchdown but finished with -4 yards receiving as Florida has continued to target him behind the line of scrimmage with screen passes.
Napier claimed that screens and perimeter throws are built into many offensive plays, but many of the actual throws are the decision of the quarterback — not necessarily called plays. “The ball goes where it goes,” he said. “He ran a lot of vertical routes. They covered him; the other guys were open. Stats aren’t the whole story. … They knew he was out there; that maybe helped the other players get open.” Regarding Wilson specifically, Napier is more focused on how he continues to progress coming out of season-ending hip surgery — correcting a hereditary issue – as opposed to his statistics. “He’s one of the better slot players in the country, incredible matchup player, so we need to continue to feature him,” Napier said.
Grab ’em by the horns: Unlike Quintana & O’Brien, it’s unlikely that South Florida will be a pushover. Despite the outsized 18.5-point spread, the Bulls have shown enough on both sides of the ball to ensure the Gators do not take them lightly come Saturday. While Napier had nothing but praise for Florida’s offense after the LIU game, he did admit the offense needed some fine tuning despite the debut against a relative cupcake out of the FCS. “Offensive football is about precision and detail and certainly rhythm,” he said. “We need all 11 players to do their job, in particular the quarterback and the offensive line. Those positions are the key to success.”
Nine times: With the SEC schedule expanding to nine games or the first time in 2026, it will be extremely interesting to see not only which programs are chosen as the Gators’ permanent opponents but how the SEC winds up dolling out the opening slate considering how Florida has been hammered with the toughest schedule of all-time in 2024 and the most difficult schedule in the country entering 2025. Napier expressed an indifference to the increase in SEC opponents, and he is not shying away from UF scheduling games against in-state rivals beyond Florida State, whether that be a future series with Miami or additional contests against the likes of USF or UCF.
“We’ll play whoever they put out there, man. The path to a championship is going to be very difficult, regardless,” he said. “One of the things I will say: If we do get in [to the College Football Playoff this season], we’re going to be battle tested. … It’s more important to me to focus on the maturity of our team, the leadership of our team, our self-discipline, our process, the talent on our roster, our development process and how hard we can get them to play, how precise we can get them to play.
“We got enough to go toe to toe with anybody, but we have to go execute on game day when it counts. That’s what separates the really good teams from the middle of the pack. We’re on a mission to try and get back on top, but it’s one day at a time.”
Florida vs. LIU score, takeaways: Defense leads shutout as No. 15 Gators dominate behind DJ Lagway
Florida vs. Mississippi State score, takeaways: Gators grind out win Billy Napier nearly gives away
Florida vs. South Florida prediction, pick, preview: Where to watch, TV channel, game time, odds, spread
