Paul Finebaum says Florida concerns center on negativity starting to mushroom
Florida’s latest loss has the Gators on a downward spiral toward games with 3 ranked teams in Florida State, LSU, and Missouri.
That 39-36 loss to Arkansas on Saturday only added to negativity surrounding the Gators program. Florida (5-4) couldn’t beat a 3-6 Arkansas team that hadn’t won a SEC game yet.
“It is a blue blood in college football, and I heard this from the most famous Florida player ever yesterday, and he said ‘The concern going into the game wasn’t about wins and loss, ‘It was about holding onto a really good recruiting class,'” Finebaum said on The Matt Barrie Show . “And they have a really, really good recruiting class. They’re a top 3-4 recruiting class going into that game, but when a game like that happens, the negativity starts to mushroom, and this is around the point a couple of years ago where Dan [Mullen] was let go.”
The Gators look hard-pressed to make a bowl game with that gauntlet, which could leave the team home for bowl season for the first time since 2017. A third-consecutive losing season also looms for the Gators, barring a turnaround.
Florida last had that many consecutive losing seasons in the 1940s from 1945 to 1947. Back-to-back losing seasons hasn’t even happened since then until the Gators’ current slide.
“And Scott Strikland, the AD down there, is all-in on Billy Napier, but the problem is, the statistics just are insanely bad for him,” Finebaum said.