Billy Napier believes for Florida to earn its first win of the season vs. visiting McNeese, they’ll have to prepare in practice with more focus.

During a recent press conference, the Gators’ head coach lamented that the Gators were sluggish in their 24-11 season-opening defeat at Utah.

“We’re still working on developing our team. We’ll begin the game like we begin all games,” Napier said. “I think the emphasis really is more on our process of making the most of every opportunity throughout the week.”

Napier says that Florida has a renewed focus since the Week 1 loss.

“I think you gotta train and practice with intention. I think that’s been the attitude and approach since Sunday,” Napier said. “Have the best Sunday, best Monday, best Tuesday, consume when preparing and then when we get to the game we’ll play the game.”

Florida’s offense lacked the requisite tempo to challenge Utah and Napier cites trailing as the reason.

“There’s no doubt … can become a factor,” Napier said. “It’s really more about the offense’s success of the team that’s ahead. If they make multiple first downs, then that creates those chunks of time opportunities.”

Napier gave credit to Florida’s defense for holding Utah to 7 points in the second half, which is an encouraging start for an improvement in pace.

“When you’re in the lead in the second half, if you’re able to earn first downs, that’s where you get the bonus of the clock difference,” Napier said. “I think our defense in the second half of the Utah game was able to play really well, so it was less of a factor.”

McNeese at Florida is slated for Sept. 9 at 7:30 p.m. EST and will be televised on ESPNU.