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Florida fans boo Billy Napier after victory over Mississippi State

ns_headshot_2024-clearby: Nick Schultz10/19/25NickSchultz_7
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© Jesse Gann / USA TODAY NETWORK

Following Florida’s victory over Mississippi State at The Swamp on Saturday, fans made their voices heard. They booed Billy Napier as he jogged off the field after the final play.

Florida picked off Blake Shapen in the final seconds to help seal the 23-21 win. It improved the Gators to 3-4 on the year and 2-2 in SEC play as they headed into the bye.

However, fans expressed their frustration multiple times throughout the game. Even after the win, they still showed that as Napier left the field.

The noise has been growing around the Florida program amid a rocky start to the year. Fans were vocal throughout Saturday’s game, and a “Fire Billy” chant broke out at one point.

First, Florida opted to run quarterback DJ Lagway on a keeper on third-and-7 from the 18-yard line. He gained only three yards, forcing the team to settle for a field goal attempt.

That’s when things started to go even more sideways after the head-scratching call. As they have many times during Billy Napier’s tenure, particularly when it comes to special teams.

The first miscue was a quick delay of game, backing up the field goal unit five yards. Then, there was a bigger problem.

On the ensuing field goal attempt, offensive lineman Damieon George was called for an illegal hands to the face penalty. That backed things up another 15 yards, bringing it to 20 total yardage in penalties on the special teams unit and making it a much more difficult kick.

But through it all, Napier praised the Gators’ ability to stay the course. That was his message during his postgame interview on the ESPN broadcast.

“It’s a resilient group,” Napier said. “You know, they’ve got character. They care for each other. Regardless of what happened on the outside. Man, what an incredible group. They play so hard. They dealt with the adversity. We talked about that yesterday.

“Look, it hasn’t gone the way we want it to, or we want it to, or the way our fans want it to go. But they’re a team. They stuck together and they were a good example of a team tonight.”

Florida will now head into the bye week at 3-4 overall ahead of a rivalry game in Week 10. The Gators will head to Jacksonville for the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party matchup against Georgia.

Thomas Goldkamp contributed.