Paul Finebaum takes the temperature on Billy Napier's future
Paul Finebaum weighed in on Billy Napier’s future at Florida Sunday morning following the Gators’ narrow loss to Missouri on Saturday night.
It’s the third game this season that has come down to the final play for Florida, and the second loss. The Gators are 5-6 and are in need of a big upset over Florida State next week to get into a bowl game.
Finebaum believes that it’s still to early to fire Napier, who is just in his second season at Florida. Barring a complete blowout next week, Finebaum thinks Napier will be safe at Florida.
“If you fire Billy Napier, you’re firing coaches on the line,” Finebaum said on the Matt Barrie Show. “I think next week is very important though. I talked to people two weeks ago, no way, yesterday morning, it could happen. But they lose the quarterback. Short of embarrassment, it seems like he’s going to survive, but it’s still tricky.”
The game against Florida State gets even tricker after quarterback Graham Mertz went down with an injury against Missouri. It’s still unclear whether he’ll be available against the Seminoles, but if he’s not Florida will have an even bigger challenge.