When All Else Seemed To Fail, The Gators Were Saved By The Big Guy
- carltonreese1306
- Oct 18, 2025
- 5 min read
By CARLTON REESE
The best defensive back on the field Saturday weighed 349 pounds. With the Gator secondary down four starters – and it showed rather painfully with a train of long bombs connecting all game long for the Mississippi State Bulldogs – the stage was set for yet another Florida collapse in a game it had no business losing.
With flashbacks to the South Florida debacle dancing in nearly everyone’s head, Florida found a way to take a game in which it dominated, make it close and give the opposition an opportunity to win. South Florida took that opportunity and cashed in on the Gators, but Mississippi State failed to capitalize in the most stunning of ways.
In field goal range and down just two points, Bulldogs quarterback Blake Shapen confidently tossed a ball into a Gator secondary that could not cover anyone. Only problem was that tackle Michai Boireau astutely dropped back in coverage and picked it off, preserving Florida’s 23-21 homecoming win.
With the victory secured, the blustering can now continue. All week, it’s been nothing but talk. Talk, talk, talk. “Quarterback D.J. Lagway had his best week of practice.” “Billy Napier is getting fired Sunday regardless of Saturday’s outcome.” “The ‘culture’ of the Florida program is where it needs to be despite the record.” The talk has become exhausting – how about some doing?
Perhaps Boireau saved Napier’s job with that interception, or maybe granted him a reprieve. Maybe it did not matter, and we are waking up Sunday morning to news that Napier is no longer head coach of the Florida Gators, which would no doubt delight the hordes of Gator fans who don’t seem to think the Georgia game matters.
If Napier is gone, Saturday’s victory would be most apropos – beginning and ending in nearly the same fashion. Remember Napier’s first game, the upset of 7th-ranked Utah that injected much-needed but perhaps Pollyannish optimism in the program? In that one, it was Amari Burney who picked off a pass in the end zone as the Utes were about to punch it in for a game-winning touchdown with just seconds remaining. Boireau duplicated the feat Saturday.
The feeling that night in 2022 was one of euphoria. Gator fans everywhere suddenly became believers again – Napier was their guy. Then, Kentucky came around and all witnessed a gruesome scenario that would play itself out again and again and again that season and the three seasons after.
And here we are, celebrating a win over Mississippi State. Not a bad Mississippi State team, mind you – this is a good football team that beat a very good Arizona State team (did you see what the Sun Devils did to Texas Tech Saturday?). But the Bulldogs, at the moment, are snakebit, or Gatorbit, though heading in the right direction. Can the same be said of Napier’s Florida Gators?
Close inspection of the Florida roster shows an offense that should be a veritable juggernaut, even in the big bad Southeastern Conference. Alas, this offense does not strike much fear. Even Saturday against Mississippi State, when the Gators moved the ball up and down the field, points were hard to come by.
When something went right, it was snatched away – see Jadan Baugh’s 60-yard touchdown run called back by a phantom holding penalty. That makes four touchdowns this season called back by penalties – this offense has only scored 11 outright this season against Division-I opponents! Mathematicians will tell you that means almost a third of all the times Florida scores, it’s being called back.
Such is the misery of this season. Clawing for every inch and suffering even when something good happens. When Trey Smack hit a 39-yard field goal to extend the Gator lead to 13-7 late in the second quarter, those points were wiped away by a holding call. That meant Smack had to hit a 54-yarder, which he did and probably deserves game MVP honors as a result.
The whole scenario summed up the Gators perfectly, where nothing comes easy. Even scratching out three points was exhaustingly excruciating as fighting for inches at the Battle of Verdun.
Did Boireau save Napier’s job Saturday? I hope so, at least for the time being. Georgia is there for the taking, but I’m afraid the chaos of a coaching change and all the negativity that ensues in such mid-season moves renders that game being flushed, surrendered before the teams even take the field. It’s Georgia, and I can’t stomach that – give Napier a chance to beat Georgia, then fire him if you must. At this point, there is not much to play for except beating your rivals, and that means as much as anything.
As for Saturday’s victory, Florida once again showed glimpses of a team that can and should be really good. It also showed once again it is a team that does not know how to step on the neck of its opponents and is always waiting for something bad to happen. A golfer whose mechanics are sound yet envisions short putts lipping out before even taking the stroke, generally has a difficult time making putts. That’s where Florida is now: Some very good players who are just waiting on that flag to be thrown at the most inopportune time or lacking the confidence to convert on 3rd-and-1 with the game on the line.
When the game concluded, center Jake Slaughter went up to Napier and gave him a hug that seemed less congratulatory as it did sympathetic. He seemed to be saying, “you’re going out a winner and I’m gonna miss you, buddy.” I’m no body language expert, but that’s what it looked like.
Regardless of the victory, things need explaining. How do you enjoy a 150-yard day from your running back, a 280-yard passing day from your quarterback, sack the opposing team’s QB four times included in 11 tackles for losses, yet still be set up for a loss?
I would almost rather they just suck, plainly and without doubt, than endure this torture. This is maddening and must be the crux of that “culture” we keep hearing about so proudly from those who lose almost half the time.
Admit it, even when Florida was up 23-14 midway through the fourth quarter, you knew the Bulldogs would get at least two more offensive possessions and winning the game was little more than a toss-up. It turned out okay in the end and Florida is now 2-2 in SEC play and 3-4 overall, records that do not inspire, but also do not translate into a firing squad – yet.
f I’m wearing those orange and blue glasses, I see a team that beat Texas and has two weeks for its secondary to heal and prepare for a Georgia team that is anything but dominant. This is about where Florida stood last season when it decided to play some real football. If Florida can pull out a win against Georgia – not likely, but certainly within reason – then there is something that can be salvaged here.
If I take those orange and blue glasses off, I see a team still mired in the same luckless doldrums that make wins hard to come by and almost nearly impossible against upper-tier teams away from The Swamp. Since it’s time to face Georgia, excuse me while I don those orange and blue glasses, which are telling me the Gators are about to start rolling. Ahem, please don’t print that.
I DON'T FEEL SORRY FOR ANYBODY DOING A LOUSY JOB AND ABOUT TO WALK AWAY WITH OVER $20 MILLION. NUTS IS THE BETTER WORD. REWARDING AND MAKING LOSERS RICH IS THE THING IN COLLEGE AND PRO FOOTBALL. SIGN A FIVE YEAR CONTRACT AND GET FIRED EARLY SEEMS NORMAL IN THIS DAY OF OVERPAYING THEM. ONLY WORSE COACHING DECISION THEN NAPIERS DURING GAMES WAS MISSISSIPPE STATE COACH NOT PLAYING FOR THE FIELD GOAL. HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN ASKED TO TAKE A BUS HOME AND PACK HIS BAGS. AND HAVE A SEAT FOR NAPIER ON SAME BUS. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. BEAT GEORGIA? NOT BETTING MY NEXT MEAL ON THAT BECAUSE OF THE MIS MATCH BETWEEN SMART AND NAPIER.
It was a fun atmosphere, typical of our Florida home crowds, and an unlikely but happy ending. But don’t overlook the consecutive penalties on Trey Smack’s eventual 54-yarder. Or how about the two-point conversion our Gators never got off because there were too many Florida players on the field. Then there’s the oddball third-and-one play call for DJ to roll out to pass. These miscues have characterized Billy’s coaching from the beginning. There’s been no growth. Change is inevitable. May best be served now. But he should not retain his job.