College GameDay debates what is wrong with Florida program under Billy Napier

Following Florida‘s stunning loss to USF, many in college football media are grappling with what the early stumble does for coach Billy Napier. Napier was firmly on the hot seat a year ago, only to win the final four games and salvage some momentum … and his job.

Now? Well, the Gators are teetering.

And facing one of the country’s toughest schedules, it’s hard to see how anything less than a herculean effort will be enough to spin things as a positive. Especially after how things went down on Saturday.

“Look, maybe they drive even without the 15-yard penalty (for spitting), but it sort of epitomized how tenuous things are,” ESPN analyst Rece Davis said on the College GameDay Podcast. “It’s huge for Florida going to LSU. Not the way you want to go in there. People would have been patient. But now you’ve burned up all the goodwill that you’ve got.”

ESPN insider Pete Thamel broke down the loss. He pointed out how much of it was a pattern playing on repeat.

“The most discouraging part of the loss was just the catastrophic errors that have kind of become familiar,” Thamel said. “Remember they had the two guys with the same numbers two years ago go out there on special teams. To me, as bad as the spitting was, it’s the punt that goes over (for a safety). They’ve just had really difficult times on special teams there.”

But perhaps the more crippling angle for Florida was that an offense that was reported to be potentially lethal this fall simply didn’t produce. Only 16 points in the game (Florida was favored to win by 17.5, for the record).

Despite having an elite talent in quarterback DJ Lagway, one of the SEC’s best tailbacks in Jaden Baugh, one of the most veteran and acclaimed offensive lines in the league, and a host of young talent at receiver, Florida could manage only 16 points. It’s hard to fathom.

“And for all of those putative self-inflicted wounds, lack of discipline, lack of coaching, you’ve just got to be able to score more against South Florida,” Thamel said. “With the weapons they have, they felt really good about the offensive line. DJ Lagway, if you talk to scouts, is the favorite to be the No. 1 pick in two drafts. He’s resplendently talented.

“You’ve just got to be able to move the ball more. If you can’t score more than 16 points at home against a mid-major at this point as you’ve built methodically, that’s tough.”

The schedule isn’t getting any easier. Three of the next four games are against current top-10 teams. The fourth game is on the road at No. 16 Texas A&M.

“That’s where you just wonder, I mean a good team could go 2-2,” analyst Dan Wetzel said. “But that would be a good team. Right now it’s three of the top seven.”

Wetzel actually pointed to a different moment than Davis or Thamel in the loss. He saw Florida’s drive with about three minutes to go, where the Gators burned only seconds off the clock while sporting a 16-15 lead, as the turning point.

“That was an example of what has driven Florida fans crazy under Napier,” Wetzel said. “And watching it happen again I think just made them irate. No one threw a shoe, trying to find the positives. There was no shoe-throwing, we went with the spitting. It’s a new era, different time going on.”

Davis raised an even bigger potential question mark for Florida under Napier. Is simply turning it around enough at this point?

Florida has bounced back before. It won those four straight games late last year. Then it found itself right back at square one following the USF loss at the beginning of this year. Very similar setup as last year.

“Now the question becomes, with a .500 record or whatever, when does not quitting become not enough?” Davis said. “That was the big thing last year, and I praised them for it and it is a big stinking deal in this era to keep a team from quitting when it gets sideways as it did for Florida last season.

“That’s a big deal. Not easy to do. I think Billy’s a good coach. But I get the sense, and I’m not even sure, not quitting is not enough anymore. You’ve got to not quit and win.”