Urban Meyer on Florida vs. Tennessee: This is THE game for Billy Napier

The Billy Napier era at Florida hasn’t gotten off to the best start. The Gators went 6-7 in Napier’s first year in 2022 and are currently 1-1 this season ahead of Saturday’s showdown with No. 11 Tennessee.

Former Florida head coach Urban Meyer believes Saturday’s game between the SEC East rivals will play a large role in determining how successful Napier is in Gainesville, as well as how long he is there.

“You’re talking about personal — this is a rivalry game and it’s a sold out Swamp. But you know what it really is? It’s a make-or-break game for Billy Napier – the head coach of Florida,” Meyer said Saturday morning on Big Noon Kickoff. “This is a must-win for him. And it’s against a Tennessee team that has not won in over 20 years in The Swamp. This is a must-win.”

Florida had won five consecutive meetings against Tennessee and 16 of the previous 17, before losing to the Vols last year in Knoxville.

Now it’s Tennessee that has a chance to win two consecutive games in the series for the first time since 2003-04. Should that happen, Meyer believes Billy Napier will be in serious trouble.

However, if the Gators can get a win at home, Meyer feels it could change everything.

“Back in 2005, we got to Florida, our staff got to Florida. We had a similar make-or-break game against Bobby Bowden and the Florida State Seminoles,” Meyer recalled. “We won that game 34-7. You know what happened? Everything changed. Recruits were in the locker room shaking our hands. The whole momentum – everything changed in Gainesville. That’s this game. If they win this game, Billy Napier is off and running. If not, the Gators are in trouble.”

Tim Tebow on Florida matchup with Tennessee: ‘It’s not a bad thing to be an underdog’

Another Florida legend also previewed the Tennessee-Florida game this week in former Gators quarterback Tim Tebow.

He believes Florida is in a good spot heading into the matchup as the underdog.

“Yeah, I think sometimes when you’re in a place like that, it’s not a bad thing to be an underdog, right,” Tebow said when speaking with On3 earlier this week. “Because it can rally you together. And I think that Florida needs to rally but I also think that they need to focus on execution. One of the things that I loved in the Utah game by Florida is I loved their fight, even when it didn’t go well.

“Their guys continued to compete and fight. I didn’t love the execution. I mean, obviously, everybody talked about the two No. 3’s on the fourth down, on the field like yeah, you can get that cleaned up. But you know, just the false starts and the little things like that I think you can get cleaned up.”