Billy Napier addresses undisciplined penalties, spitting incident

In the immediate aftermath of South Florida‘s stunning 18-16 upset of No. 13 Florida inside the Swamp on Saturday, Billy Napier cited “uncharacteristic mistakes” in a postgame interview with ESPN sideline reporter Morgan Uber. Whether or not they were all that “uncharacteristic” remains up for debate.

But perhaps the most glaring of the Gators’ self-sabotaging mistakes came on the final series of the game when Florida defensive lineman Brendan Bett spit in the face of USF offensive lineman Cole Skinner. Bett was immediately ejected and a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty was enforced, and the Bulls wrapped up the shocking upset seven plays later with a game-wining 20-yard field goal from kicker Nico Gramatica.

After the game, Napier didn’t mince words about Bett’s unforced error, calling the spitting incident “unacceptable” with a promise to address the moment with Bett and the entire team.

“Well I haven’t had that conversation with him yet. And we’ll take a good look at it, but it’s unacceptable. I think we have a lot of players in that room as well that have the same belief that it’s unacceptable,” Napier said Saturday in the postgame press conference. “When a guy does something like that, he’s compromising the team, he’s putting himself before the team, and everything the game is about, you’re compromising it. So there will be lessons to be learned there. Yeah, it’s that simple.”

What’s not as simple were the Gators’ double-digit penalties Saturday after surrendering 11 for 103 yards in the contest.

A key series that encapsulated Florida’s penalty issues Saturday came late in the third quarter when the Gators’ response to USF’s go-ahead 66-yard touchdown pass from Byrum Brown to Keshaun Singleton was a botched snap for a safety.

Following the Bulls’ big-play score, UF running back Jadan Baugh was tackled for a two-yard loss on first down and Gators left tackle Austin Barber was called for a false start on third-and-2. Two plays later, Florida snapped the punt into the back of the end zone for a safety to put USF ahead 15-9 entering the fourth quarter.

“I think the procedure penalties, obviously we can live with the technical penalties, there’s always going to be a handful of those,” Napier said postgame Saturday, “(but) the ones that keep you up at night are the ones that are player decision-making. So, there’s got to be some ownership there, on both ends.”

The Gators managed to retake the lead on a 4-yard touchdown pass from DJ Lagway to Eugene Wilson III to cap their first offensive series of the fourth quarter, but more mistakes came back to bit Florida, especially on the Bulls’ final series. UF helped USF with a back-to-back defensive penalties, the second coming on a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty against Bett for spitting. The Bulls responded with a 29-yard strike deep into Florida territory to get into field goal range before Gramatica sealed it with a game-winning chip-shot field as time expired.

But at least according to Napier himself, many of those decision-making mistakes are mostly due to a failure in coaching.

“(But) they’re under my leadership, (and) it’s ultimately my responsibility. We need to eliminate the false starts, we need to eliminate the personal fouls. We did have a substitution penalty as well,” Napier continued. “So those are the ones as coaches that we have to take responsibility for. … I think the players make mistakes as part of the game, but I do think that ultimately it is my responsibility, so I think it is coaching.”

Napier will look to right the ship and correct some of Florida’s “uncharacteristic mistakes” ahead of next Saturday night’s SEC opener at No. 3 LSU in Baton Rouge (7:30 pm ET, ABC).