Billy Napier discusses defensive improvement in Week 2, laments offense’s third-down struggles
By Keith Farner
Published:
Billy Napier is still building a program at Florida, and the average team already deals with considerable improvement in the first 2 weeks of the season.
A week after the huge upset over No. 7 Utah, the Gators took a step back with a humbling loss against Kentucky in The Swamp. On one hand, the defensive improved, but the third-down conversions struggled.
“Week 1 to Week 2 I thought we improved,” Napier said Wednesday on the SEC coaches media teleconference. “Better precision in how we played defense as a whole. … Execution once the ball is snapped. The eye discipline was better. Overall, I thought really improved in that area.”
Third down was a key problem for the Gators last week, as they went 4-for-16 against Kentucky, and mustered just 12 first downs.
“We weren’t very good on conversion downs last week,” Napier said. “We were lights out in Week 1. … We didn’t throw and catch the ball very well. We weren’t very accurate, had some drops, had some protection issues. … We definitely didn’t meet our goal and it’s one of the reasons we lost the game.”
Napier and the Gators take on South Florida at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday on SEC Network.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
