Florida’s Billy Napier is On3 Power Five national head coach of the week

Each week during the season, On3 selects a national Power Five head coach of the week.

Our choice for Week 3: Florida’s Billy Napier.

Napier guided the Gators to a 29-16 win over rival Tennessee, which was ranked No. 11 heading into the game. Behind Napier, Florida led 26-7 at halftime and by as much as 19 in the fourth quarter.

It was a much-needed win for Napier after a 6-7 first season with the Gators and following a 24-11 loss to Utah to start this year. With Napier as the offensive play-caller, Florida showed improvement on offense with four first-half touchdowns. The Gators also limited the high-powered Vols to 387 yards, including just 277 yards and 10 points through the game’s first 50 minutes.

“Look, I know we haven’t won as many games as we’d like to win, but the amount of work that our people have done since we hit the ground here until today — obviously, we have a lot of work left to do — (but) you want to see your people experience some success, right? See the fruits of their labor,” Napier said. “I’m not just talking about the players. I’m talking about the adults too.

“We worked hard, and that’s the thing that it gives you. It validates your plan. It validates what you’re selling to some degree, the things that you continue to harp on. That’s what you want as a leader.”

Florida now looks capable of being in the 5-2 range or maybe even better heading into a late October matchup against No. 1 Georgia. The Gators’ next four games are against Charlotte, at Kentucky, at home versus Vanderbilt and at South Carolina.

Honorable mentions

BYU’s Kilani Sitake: In BYU’s first season as a Power Five program, Sitake has the Cougars off to a 3-0 start following a 38-31 road win over Arkansas on Saturday. During that victory, BYU overcame an early 14-0 deficit and then a 10-point deficit in the second half. The Cougars closed the game with 17 unanswered points.

Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz: Like Sitake and BYU, Drinkwitz and Missouri are off to a 3-0 start. The latest win for the Tigers was a 30-27 victory over No. 15 Kansas State on Saturday that Missouri won on an SEC-record 61-yard field goal as time expired. It was the Tigers’ first victory over a ranked non-conference opponent in 33 years. The 3-0 start is Missouri’s first since 2018.