ESPN’s Paul Finebaum joined “The Matt Barrie Show” to discuss what the outlook for Florida should be in 2023 and how the perception of Billy Napier may change throughout the season.

“If they lose the opener to Utah, their schedule is problematic,” Finebaum explained. “They have Kentucky and Tennessee in the first few weeks of the year, so it’s entirely possible that they have 3 losses before they have to take on Georgia and Florida State.”

Finebaum jokingly pointed out that, unlike Dan Mullen, fans appear to be willing to give Napier time to build up the program.

“They act like he [Napier] inherited a program that had been shut down 25 years, while Mullen was in the SEC Championship Game before he got fired the next year,” Finebaum said. “The standard at Florida used to be to win it all, so Napier has the advantage of dumbed down expectations.”

Barrie and Finebaum compared how Mullen’s major weak point appeared to be an unwillingness to recruit while Napier has dashed those issues by landing the likes of 5-star DE Jamonta Waller and 4-star QB DJ Lagaway in the Class of 2024. But, as Finebaum points out, that can only get you so far with the Florida fan base.

“Florida fans are cannibalistic,” Finebaum said. “They may talk a good game on August 14, but they don’t talk the same game on December 15.”

He went on to make a point about how Gator fans will be reminded about the program’s glory days when the “Untold: Swamp Kings” Netflix documentary debuts on Aug. 23, which may incite some grumblings. The show delves into the glory years of Urban Meyer, Tim Tebow and all of the off-field issues that surrounded some of those great Florida teams.

In the end, according to Barrie and Finebaum, the task is for Florida to gain ground on Tennessee, Georgia, LSU, Alabama, South Carolina and Kentucky in the SEC while all of them are a couple steps ahead.

“Florida now has to leapfrog so many schools to get back to the relevance that most of us grew up with,” Barrie said.