Paul Finebaum: Goodwill toward Billy Napier is 'gone,' career at Florida 'about over'

After a bumpy start to last season, Billy Napier led Florida to a strong finish, ending the season on a three-game win streak. In turn, Florida fans entered the 2025 campaign with sky-high hopes. Now, many of those hopes are gone.

On Saturday, Florida fans lost confidence after the Gators suffered a shocking 18-16 loss to USF. During an appearance on SportsCenter Monday, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum didn’t hold back when asked if any of the goodwill from last season is still left for Napier.

“It’s all gone,” Finebaum said. “I know that sounds like an overreaction on a Monday, but it’s the reality of the situation. And you said it a minute ago, the schedule is so bad, and he literally wasted a win that he could not afford to waste. And he has done this repeatedly.

“When you think about going to LSU in prime time; Miami, Texas, A&M, you still have Georgia, Florida State and countless other games, including Ole Miss, your chances of having a great season are just about over. And by the way, Matt, so is Billy Napier’s career at Florida.”

Per ESPN, Florida has the most difficult remaining schedule. The Gators have eight opponents who are currently ranked still ahead on their schedule. It’s not a promising site after the Gators fell to a Group of Five team this weekend.

Worse, Florida never should’ve been in a position to lose. In the loss, Florida committed 11 penalties for a total loss of 103 yards.

Two of those penalties came when USF was marching down the field on its final drive. The first was a pass interference call on defensive back Dijon Johnson. The second occurred when defensive lineman Brendan Bett was ejected for spitting on an opponent. Penalties weren’t Florida’s only issue.

With 2:52 left in the fourth quarter, Florida got the ball back and was ahead 16-15. Normally, coaches would run the ball in this situation, in an effort to drain the clock and force the opponent to use timeouts. Instead, Florida passed twice, both of which were incompletions.

In total, the Gators ran off just 27 seconds from the time they gained possession to when they punted the ball. The catastrophic series left USF with plenty of time to march down the field and make a 20-yard field goal to secure the win.

On Saturday, Florida will look to bounce back from the loss as it squares off against No. 3 LSU on the road. The game will air live at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.