The Play That Could've Changed The Story

Florida hits a new low under Billy Napier in loss to USF

By CARLTON REESE GatorBaitMedia.com

Near misses and no makes doomed the Gators all evening (Chris Spears photo)

That renewed love affair, all that good will earned in a glorious run to finish the 2024 season all went up in smoke Saturday at The Swamp. The Gators lost to South Florida and looked every bit the mediocrity such a final result suggests.

This team was not prepared to win a football game against a good team. It was certainly prepared to push around little ole Long Island and be so disciplined as to not commit any penalties against a team in which it didn’t matter. But USF mattered, and Florida got what it deserved for the silly antics it displayed to the world.

Quarterback D.J. Lagway is still rusty and can’t hit an open receiver, but that was only one small piece of what was a house of cards. Eleven penalties including a Baylor transfer who spit in the face of an opponent during the game’s most critical moments when Florida was trying to stave off a game-winning drive – this was reality, and it slapped pretty hard.

There was one play late in the game that could have saved the day and the game, but the talented Vernell Brown couldn’t haul it in. Was Napier trying the put the game away with that throw? “Sure, that's exactly what you needed to do at that point,” said the Florida coach. “I think we got ourselves into a good play. We had a chance on third down to put the game away basically, right? So we had a matchup in the slot and we had a chance to make a play, and the game's essentially over at that point. “ Y

ou teased us all, Billy Napier. The talent is there for the Gator team to challenge for a conference title, but was woefully unprepared for what the Bulls had in store. And now it’s off to Baton Rouge, then Miami, then a home date with the Longhorns.

If Gator fans are feeling that same old September gut rot that afflicts them every year, it’s because it’s a real thing. The season is on the line now, when you’re ranked and are even in the standings with everyone else – now, the season will have to wait until the Gators are an afterthought, like last year when everyone had given up on them before the great October Surprise that convinced everyone this experiment may work, after all.

This year, there will be no waiting. It’s now or never. The Gators have to beat LSU, they have to win at Miami – we are all out of forgiveness. USF was no pushover and not for a second should anyone think Napier, his staff or players took them lightly.

A little bit of room for error existed, but Florida exhausted a ballroom of error in this one, and it cost the Gators. Two touchdowns called back by penalties which could have sucked the energy out of USF, missed tackles when plays seemed to be blown up, a snap that sails over the punter’s head that ultimately provides the winning margin for the opponent – all grotesque morsels of an ugly mosaic that created a devastating defeat.

Were the Gators the badass championship-caliber team everyone suspected, this would never have happened. Outside of the opening drive that stalled and ended up in a field goal, Florida never imposed its will on a lesser opponent.

It was as though Florida just did not think of itself as in a separate class from USF – it thought correctly. It’s okay to be off in a game like this, but to lose it?

The excuses coming down the pike will be entertaining to hear, indeed. The Gators are not supposed to play this season trying to “finish strong” – that was good enough last year.

A loss in Baton Rouge this coming Saturday and it will be hard to load up that bandwagon again, because what happened against USF combined with a defeat in the conference opener to LSU will just be too much evidence against the state of this program to lure anyone to get behind the Gators.

A win over USF, even a close one, would have granted some of that forgiveness for not closing the deal in any game the next several weeks. This movie is tiresome and exhausting – we’ve seen it too many times. T

he upset of Utah in the 2022 season opener brought back that lovin’ feeling, only to see Kentucky make a mockery of such notions a week later. The next year, hope sang its siren tune again with a win over 11th-ranked Tennessee, only to see Kentucky beat it back the second year in a row, followed five losses to a Murderer’s Row schedule the Gators were not up to challenging.

Then everyone remembers 2024 when Napier was gone and everyone was poring over their short lists of available head coaches – and when it was all over, Florida decided to play some football and ran the table.

Looking back, it was all smoke and mirrors. Beating LSU and Ole Miss last year somehow proved Florida can upset good teams when the season is already in the trash can. Admirable yes, but tolerable as the ongoing state of the program? In Tampa following the Gasparilla Bowl win over Tulane last year, the atmosphere among Gator fans was giddy, not because of what had just taken place, but for what seemed to be the revamped state of Gator football and a bright future in which Florida re-claimed its spot among the nation’s elite.

The 2025 season would bring a clean slate, and the Gators would pick up right where they left off. Alas, the needle on this record keeps skipping and here we are again, feeling like we just don’t belong in the conversation.

Embarrassed? You should be. Today, everyone is talking about the Florida State Seminoles and their sudden emergence while the Florida Gators seem to be what everyone else thought all along: nothing of importance. FSU is average at best, but not many folks outside Gainesville believe that clown show is worse than Florida.

The season is on the line next week in Baton Rouge. There are eight losable games remaining on the schedule and that’s all that matters, and that right now is the mentality of most Gator fans – not that every game left is winnable. The most Pollyanna of Gator fans still figured on three losses and that hopefully would be good enough for a national playoff spot.

No more – who now sees more than six wins? As bizarre as it may sound after all this, now is not the time to bury this Florida Gators team. The Gators lost to a good team Saturday, but one it had no business losing to, nonetheless. The shovels, though, are well within reach and if things get ugly in Baton Rouge and Miami, feel free to start digging. The national media seem convinced that LSU and Miami are both the real deal – I’m not as convinced. I still believe if Florida shows up well-prepared it will beat both LSU and Miami. The problem is clinging to that desperate word ‘IF.’ It’s getting pretty tiresome, don’t you think?