Steve Spurrier criticizes Florida over 'stupid penalty plays' in loss to USF

Saturday marked the low-point of the Billy Napier era for Florida, as in-state rival USF knocked off the Gators 18-16 in The Swamp via a walk-off field goal from kicker Nico Gramatica.

Napier is now 20-20 in 40 games as the head coach at Florida and is just 14-7 in games played in their home stadium, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The loss has caused an uproar of fan outrage, calling for Napier to be let go prior to the end of the season.

Following the disappointing loss for his former program, the legendary Steve Spurrier gave his take on Florida‘s loss to the Bulls. Spurrier, who stated last week that USF would certainly give Florida a challenge, tabbed the Gators’ ‘stupid penalty plays’ as one of the main factors that led to the loss.

“It was so disappointing, mainly because we played the first game with zero penalties,” Spurrier said on ‘Another Dooley Noted Podcast‘. “It tied the school record. I don’t even know if we ever had a game that I coached here with zero penalties. So it looked like we were well disciplined and knew how to play the game.

“Then all of a sudden, we had 11 or 12 and it took away some good plays that gave South Florida a chance to score. So, stupid penalty plays were as big of a reason we lost the game rather than effort and all that.”

Spurrier addresses Brendan Bett’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty

In the loss, the Gators committed 11 penalties for 103 yards. No penalty however was bigger than Brendan Bett‘s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty with 2:07 remaining, which made what would have been a 3rd & 10 a 1st & 10 for the USF offense. Bett was given the penalty after spitting on an opposing player following the second-down play, shades of Philadelphia’s Jalen Carter.

“We thought our defense might could hold them but then had that stupid spitting penalty that has become the fashion,” Spurrier continued. “I guess he saw the NFL guy do it and said, ‘I can do it.’ I hope not. But that was ridiculous. That never happened for or against us. People just didn’t spit back in the 70s, 80s, 90s.”

Napier told reporters Monday that he had not yet made a decision on whether Bett would be suspended for an upcoming game against LSU in Week 3. But he did outline what the defensive lineman has done to show his remorse. 

“There’ll be some internal discipline,” Napier said about Bett. “Obviously, he was suspended and, you know, he’ll have an opportunity today to apologize to the team and he’s going to apologize publicly. We’re even having him reach out to the young man on the other team. So, no stone unturned here in terms of maximizing this for him to learn, and also, I think, for our other players to see how to take ownership of a mistake, you know, and go about this the right way.”

Following its loss to USF, now-unranked Florida stares down a gauntlet of No. 3 LSU, No. 5 Miami, No. 7 Texas and No. 16 Texas A&M in its next four games.