Florida football’s best opportunity for bowl eligibility evaporated during a mistake-riddled overtime loss to Arkansas, winless in the SEC entering last Saturday’s 39-36 stunner in the Swamp.
The Gators (5-4, 3-3 SEC) now turn their attention to Saturday’s visit at No. 18 LSU, a program with its own set of problems but also the SEC’s top offense. The game begins a closing stretch also featuring a Nov. 18 date at No. 16 Missouri and Nov. 25 visit from No. 4 Florida State.
Not everyone was quite ready to look ahead just 48 hours after the Gators’ latest loss.
Continued struggles on special teams, a reeling defense, an inconsistent offense and baffling game management issues are chipping away at second-year coach Billy Napier.
On Monday, he fielded 11 questions — two of them requests for clarification — before one finally came about LSU. Napier answered before he quipped, “Appreciate the question about LSU,” and then walked away.
Here are several more as the Gators prepare for a daunting assignment:
How much time is fair to give Napier?
Hot seat speculation, much calls to jettison Napier, is premature.
Coaching instability, after all, has left Florida’s program in the SEC’s middle pack, if not the tail end. Recruiting neglect presented Napier a deficient roster he pushes to improve with a 2024 class currently ranked No. 3.
Yet as the future unfolds, the Year 2 jump common at Florida has failed to materialize. The first losing regular season in seven years is in the offing.
Napier might never return Florida to SEC contention, but a fair gauge of his program is Georgia week 2024. If within two years the Gators do not close the gap with the Bulldogs and push for one of 12 College Football Playoff spots then available, a head coaching change would be justified.
For now, staffing, philosophical and structural changes are critical this offseason.
Napier sits 11-11 and signs of on-field progress are fleeting. The 44-year-old inherited a challenging situation from Dan Mullen. To expect a quick-fix was foolish, leading athletic director Scott Stricklin to significantly invest in a long-range plan.
Stricklin agreed to pay nearly $20 million in staff salary in 2022 — $7.1 million for Napier, $7.5 million for his 10 assistants and $5 million for his support staff of analysts and quality control coaches. Napier’s seven-year, $51.8 million deal guarantees him 85% of what he is owed if let go without cause.
Owing Napier close to $32 million, UF could not cut ties even if so inclined. Better everyone just accepts Napier gets time he richly deserves.
Can Gators slow down Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr., SEC’s top pass-catching combo?
The status of star quarterback Jayden Daniels is unclear. He entered concussion protocol following a brutal hit from Alabama’s Dallas Turner early in the fourth quarter of the Tigers’ loss.
But it might not matter who’s throwing to Nabers and Thomas against UF’s shaky secondary. Backup Garrett Nussmeier could have a field day himself.
During SEC games, the Gators have allowed 13 completions of at least 40 yards — six more than anyone — and have a league-low 3 interceptions against 13 touchdowns. Opponents average of 8.6 yards per attempt, tied for worst in the league, and have a rating of 155.96, ahead of only Mississippi State.
“It’s a lot of self-inflicted errors,” sophomore Devin Moore said.
Nabers and Thomas will embarrass the Gators if Moore and fellow cornerbacks Jason Marshall Jr. and Jalen Kimber are not on point and UF’s pass rush — tied for an SEC-low 16 sacks — can’t apply pressure.
Other than South Carolina’s Xavier Legette, UF hasn’t faced anyone in the class of LSU’s wideouts. The duo has 21 touchdowns and average 17.3 yards on 111 catches.
The matchup begins a three-game stretch against some of the nation’s top wideouts. Missouri’s Luther Burden III (64 catches, 958 yards, 7 TDs) and Florida State’s Keon Coleman (38, 538, 9) await.
Florida has allowed 39 points in three straight games for the first time since 1917. The Gators’ offense, averaging 31.3 in that span, likely will have to keep pace in a trio of shootouts.
Is Tiger Stadium the SEC’s toughest environment, especially at night?
Death Valley’s reputation is well earned and well known, even by soon-to-be visitors.
Playing under the lights, LSU is 93-11 since 2000 (89.4% win rate). With a seating capacity of 102,321, second in the SEC to Texas A&M’s Kyle Field, noise levels have reached 133 decibels — or close to a jet engine.
Florida’s players are eager to experience the phenomenon.
“All the stories and things I’ve heard of it, especially a night game, I’m extremely excited,” Moore said. “That’s the reason I came to Florida, to be on big stages like this.”
The stage could be too big for young team featuring 12 true freshmen to appear in at least seven games.
Is this the best SEC’s crossover rivalry?
With Texas and Oklahoma’s addition to the SEC in 2024, the two-division system will end after 31 years. Over time, Florida-LSU rose to the top among the annual crossover games, even if Alabama-Tennessee boasts superior name recognition and Georgia-Auburn more tradition as the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry” dating to 1892.
Since 2003, the Gators and Tigers have delivered 12 one-possession decisions, Georgia and Auburn nine, and Alabama and Tennessee six. LSU leads 13-7, but has eight wins during the past 10 meetings. Georgia leads 15-5, but has lost just three times since 2006; Alabama leads 16-4, with just two losses since 2006.
The memorable moments when Florida-LSU meet are legion.
Tim Tebow’s jump pass in UF’s 2006 win and Jacob Hester’s fourth-down heroics for LSU in ’07 at Tiger Stadium were epics. A fake field goal ignited LSU’s 2015 victory in Tiger Stadium, site of a Gators’ goal-line stand a year later after the contentious rescheduling of the game canceled by Hurricane Matthew.
Officials flagged Florida cornerback Marco Wilson for unsportsmanlike conduct after he tossed an LSU player’s shoe 20 yards down field following a third-down stop. The Tigers capitalized to win 37-34 in the dense fog in the Swamp on a 57-yard game-winning field goal by Cade York, beginning Mullen’s rapid decline.
Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com
