Paul Finebaum: Billy Napier is clearly back on the hot seat after Florida loss to USF

The Florida Gators came into the 2025 season ready to take a major step forward under head coach Billy Napier. Potentially, that could include becoming a contender in the SEC. Things went sideways in Week 2, though, and the Gators dropped a game to the USF Bulls.

With a day to reflect on the game, Paul Finebaum appeared on The Matt Barrie Show. There, he shared that Billy Napier is clearly back on the hot seat at Florida.

“Not only were they favored,” Paul Finebaum said. “This was probably the second easiest game on their schedule now that everything has repositioned with Florida State and Miami and literally everyone else on their schedule. We talked about them a couple of weeks ago as a Playoff team. I mean, they’re no longer a Playoff team. They’re not really even a team that you have to take seriously anymore, especially when you look at the absolute meltdown at the end of that game.”

The game against USF ended up being a low-scoring battle. With only a few moments left, the Bulls missed a long kick. That set the Gators up around midfield with the lead, looking to close out the game. However, they’d throw multiple times, stopping the clock, before punting. The defense then, hurting itself with penalties, let USF march downfield for the game-winning field goal.

“It’s completely inexcusable,” Finebaum said. “And what’s worse is it’s a continuum of the way Billy Napier has been coaching for most of his tenure at Florida. He got on that winning streak at the end [of last season] when everything seemed to come together, but it appears he has thrown that all away. His goodwill has gone down the drain. He is clearly back on the hot seat, and his worst enemy right now is the schedule. Anybody can figure this thing out. The next four games are at LSU, at Miami, Texas at home, and at Texas A&M. Where in the world do you find a win in that group?”

Florida ended the 2024 season playing hard for Billy Napier and winning four straight games. That wasn’t what Matt Barrie saw against USF, though. He saw an undisciplined team, highlighted by the spitting penalty, and a Florida team that didn’t want to win as much as USF did. For his part, Paul Finebaum agreed, and that’s part of why Napier’s job security is up in the air.

“It’s 100 percent true. I mean, I’ve run out of adjectives and we’re barely into this segment. You can blame that on anyone you want. Ultimately, the players are responsible, but if that’s how they feel, then what sense is there to continue this, because I remember last year, they got off to that disastrous start, but they were losing to good teams. They lost to Miami in the opener. Texas A&M in the third week. They were both quite good at the time,” Finebaum said.

“But how do you come back from this? The questions that Scott Stricklin, the athletic director there has been dodging are now right back with him. Just got a new extension, by the way, the AD. So, you have to wonder, is he in the same position that he was when he had been boldly defending Billy Napier for so long? I’d be curious to see what he says now.”

As Finebaum noted, the schedule gets intense from here for Florida. Next week, the Gators head to Death Valley to take on the LSU Tigers.