What they said: Gators finish with back-to-back losing seasons

LAS VEGAS — No. 14 Oregon State handed the Gators a 30-3 loss in the Las Vegas Bowl on Saturday, their largest margin of defeat since the 55-20 Cotton Bowl loss to Oklahoma in 2020.

Quarterback Ben Gulbranson threw for 165 yards and scored two touchdowns to lead the Beavers to their first 10-win season since 2006. Florida’s Jack Miller III had 180 yards on 13 of 22 passing in his first career start, but UF was held to a season-low 39 rushing yards.

The Gators finished with a 6-7 record for the second straight season. It marks the first time Florida’s had back-to-back losing seasons since 1978-79, which were also transition years between Doug Dickey and Charley Pell.

Here’s what both teams had to say after the Gators’ blowout loss at Oregon State.

Billy Napier on the penalty issues:

“I think we will know more when we watch the tape. I think sometimes, you know, I don’t know. I think this is a team that penalties, it’s been an area where we’ve made a lot of improvement. Procedure penalties those are things that frustrate coaches and those are things I don’t know if we’ve had that many in an entire season right much less one game. Something we need to take a close look at there and see where we can help the players.” 

Napier on the fake punt play:

“That’s one of the things that I’ve got written down here. We’re in what we would call a little bit more of a conservative call there, that is ‘Fake Sam’. But I don’t know that we executed it well. Truth be known, we should have left punt safe out there. That’s my fault. But they executed their fake on fourth-and-2 at midfield, and that possession led to points. So, I think that’s coaching, right? I’ve got to do a better job for our team.”

Napier on Miller’s performance:

“I think Jack showed some grit today. You think about what he was asked to do, obviously had the thumb injury at the end of training camp to get back four or five weeks ago, really the first time to start and just reps to get ready for this game, I know a hasn’t been taken any two reps for a long time. I thought he showed some toughness and grit, obviously made some plays but he also, there’s things he can do better. What I think about is maybe things we can do as a staff to maybe help him, that players around him play better, he can play better but more importantly we can coach better, it’s a tough dynamic and one that he took on. His approach, his work ethic, his attitudes towards the opportunity you know I think some good and bad but a lot of grit there, respect the approach that he took.” 

Gervon Dexter on Derek Wingo:

“Wingo is a younger guy and he always has been a leader. It was great that we had Ventrell [Miller] the whole season so Wingo can learn behind him. He stepped into the leader role today. He played through a lot of things and he just fought through the whole game and showed grit.”

Dexter on where the program has grown:

“Just seeing the transition from last year to this year, I’m just proud of it, honestly. I just felt like the senior class and as far as me leaving as well, I feel like we left it better than we got it. So, that’s been the biggest thing for me and I’m proud. Especially this year, we’ve learned to stay together. We learned to be great teammates, we learned to be for one. I think a lot of it has just been inside the locker room. It’s just been like, it’s not half, it’s not offense versus defense. It’s one big unit and we’re all playing for each other. So, I think that’s the biggest difference that I’ve witnessed.”

Ricky Pearsall on the 2022 season:

“I think we can look back at it and see what we’ve been doing all year long. Fighting to the end is something this team has been doing. You can’t really teach effort and I think that’s something really important that we can build off of going into next year. We got a lot of young guys that are hungry and excited to play so I think Gator Nation should be excited about the future here.”

Napier on the Gators’ senior class:

“I had an opportunity to spend a little bit of time with each one of those guys in the locker room just now. We’ve got some really good people in there. And not only the effort to improve as a football player and their role and how they contribute to the team and how they play, but more importantly just their leadership and example relative to building a team. I think your veteran players have more influence and impact. And we’ve seen those individual players grow, and I think I’m probably most proud of them. When I think about 2022, I’m going to think those five, six, seven guys who are in there that this is their last time.”

Jonathan Smith on if it was OSU’s best game:

“It felt that way. We finished obviously the way we wanted to defensively throughout the night. You wanted to take away the run game and make it hard for them.”

Jack Colletto on the 10-win season:

“If you were to look back five years ago and say, ‘Hey, you guys are going to have a 10-win season, win the Las Vegas bowl and beat an SEC team,’ there’ll be a lot of people laughing at us. But yet we ultimately were able to execute and do it. So five years from now, who knows where we can be?”