Billy Napier spent a summer preaching championship culture and discipline. In stunning loss to USF, the Gators had neither
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GAINESVILLE — South Florida upset Florida 18-16 on Saturday in The Swamp, cementing a historic win for Alex Golesh’s program with an 87-yard drive to set up a 20-yard game-winning field goal by Nico Gramatica.
For the Florida Gators, it was the latest in a series of mystifying September setbacks spoiling another summer filled with grandiose promises of Billy Napier returning Florida to the program’s past glory.
This was supposed to be the year.
Year 4.
Napier’s players. Napier’s culture. Elite discipline. No more entitlement.
A team that said, “Spot the Ball,” and then prided itself on execution and discipline.
A team with a “championship mentality.”
One of Napier’s mentors, Nick Saban, once said you “have a championship culture when the discipline comes first and the entitlement is gone.”
All summer, Napier said making progress towards a championship mentality was one of the things he had become most proud of during his time at Florida.
“We don’t have those (entitlement or discipline) issues, in my opinion, we don’t have distractions,” Napier said last month. “I think that these guys appreciate everyone’s role within the organization, how they treat people,” he continued. “Nobody feels entitled with what they have.”
You wouldn’t have known it watching the Gators on Saturday night.
Florida played without discipline, committing 11 penalties for 103 yards, including 2 backbreaking penalties on South Florida’s game-winning drive, both of which helped the Bulls escape from the shadow of their own goalposts. The second of those penalties, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty called on defensive linemen Brendan Bett for spitting on a South Florida player, was inexcusable on any field, let alone in a program whose foundation is supposed to be culture and discipline.
When asked about the lack of accountability and discipline, Napier was blunt.
“The procedure penalties, obviously, we can live with the technical penalties. The ones that keep you up at night are the ones that are player decision-making. There has to be responsibility there. The (players) are under my leadership. We have to eliminate those. I think that players make mistakes. It’s part of the game. But ultimately it is coaching,” Napier said.
It’s a sober and honest answer from a man and coach of high character and integrity.
But it’s not good enough to own the problem. Napier is compensated handsomely to fix it. He knows it.
“There’s no excuse. The football has to be better,” Napier said.
But can Napier fix it?
There were too many questions and issues on the football field on Saturday night to believe he can fix it.
Florida’s celebrated quarterback, DJ Lagway, continues to look like a player who didn’t throw in spring practice, was on a pitch count throughout the summer, and didn’t play 11 on 11 until the final week of camp. He was out of sync on intermediate throws, and when he did throw down field, missed badly for an incompletion (first half, to a wide-open J. Michael Sturdivant) or interception (overthrown ball downfield intercepted by a diving James Chenault). A late fourth quarter drop by budding star Vernell Brown III on arguably Lagway’s best pass of the night didn’t help matters, but Florida’s inability to get consistent first downs, let alone points, speaks to Lagway’s growing pains.
Looking deeper under the hood, it feels like Lagway’s issues aren’t just about rust.
The book is out on the young quarterback, too.
After feasting on single high looks early in his Florida career, defenses have adjusted. Like Tulane in the Gasparilla Bowl and FSU in the regular season finale a year ago, South Florida planted 2 high safeties deep, daring Lagway to make quick reads and drive the length of the field. The sophomore quarterback has his moments, but the consistency is lacking.
“Coaches watch film, too. They know my strengths. I have to go prove I can adapt,” Lagway, as self-aware as ever, said following the game.
Napier’s play-calling did little to help.
The Gators gashed the Bulls on single gap and off tackle runs in the first half, averaging 7.1 yards on those concepts. But Napier insisted on incorporating misdirection and east-west running concepts into the game plan in the first half, negating Florida’s size advantage on north-south runs and allowing South Florida’s small but fast defenders to chase horizontally. Florida’s east-west run game failed, putting the Gators behind the sticks at inopportune times and allowing the Bulls to build confidence.
The players around Lagway underperformed, too.
For all the talking season chatter about Florida having the most talented offensive in the SEC, multiple players on the unit struggled for a second consecutive week.
A Kam Waites hold negated a nifty Ja’Kobi Jackson touchdown run. A Bryce Lovett false start contributed to Florida settling for a field goal on a first half possession. All-American Jake Slaughter was called for a hold in the second half, negating a first down run by Lagway. All-SEC tackle Austin Barber committed a brutal false start penalty on 3rd and 2 late in the third quarter, spoiling another Florida possession. The Gators also surrendered a sack for the second consecutive game.
Even with the miscues and playcalling missteps, Florida averaged 6.4 yards per play in the opening half but failed to finish 3 drives deep in South Florida territory, settling for 3 Trey Smack field goals. As the third quarter dragged towards a gut-check fourth quarter, you could sense the collective confidence of a sold-out Swamp waning.
The reason? South Florida’s senior quarterback, Byrum Brown.
While Lagway and the Florida offense struggled, Brown was outstanding.
Dodging Florida pressure all evening, Brown kept a host of successful Bulls plays alive with his ability to both buy time and scrap for yardage with his legs. No play better embodied this than the penultimate play from scrimmage in the first half. As George Gumbs and Jayden Woods closed in for a sack, Brown pirouetted his way past both pursuing Gators and turned what would have been a drive-killing sack into a 20-yard run to set up a Nico Gramatica field goal to cut the Florida lead to 9-6 at the half.
Then, with the third quarter winding down, Brown found Keshaun Singleton for a 66-yard touchdown, zinging the throw perfectly between 2 converging Florida defenders for a touchdown and South Florida’s first lead.
A possession later, the Bulls added a safety when All-SEC long-snapper Rocco Underwood overshot punter Tommy Doman, who saved a potential touchdown by knocking the ball out of the endzone. Those 2 points proved vital, and by the time 89,909 strong sang “I Won’t Back Down,” the Bulls had the football and a 6-point lead.
That’s when The Swamp roared to life, and so did the Gators.
Feeding off a frenzied crowd, Florida forced a 3-and-out. A play later, Vernell Brown III, whose Dad captained Urban Meyer’s first Florida team, returned a punt 40 yards down the right sideline to set Gators up deep in South Florida territory. Five plays later, DJ Lagway found Tre Wilson on a slant to tie the game, and a Smack extra point put Florida back in the lead.
For a moment, it seemed as if Napier and the Gators would escape, learning a valuable lesson in victory instead of a harder lesson in a devastating defeat.
With USF driving, All-SEC defensive end Tyreak Sapp, back for his senior year despite being assured of a NFL Draft selection last spring, roared around right tackle and dragged Brown down for a huge sack, pushing the Bulls back to the 43-yard line. South Florida reclaimed the sack yardage a play later, but the damage was done, and Nico Gramatica’s 58-yard field goal fell 5 yards short.
But the Bulls, aptly named and game for a fight all evening, forced a 3-and-out of their own, earning one last chance.
On the final drive, Florida couldn’t get out of its own way.
On second and 10 from their own 11, Brown fired incomplete for Singleton, but Florida’s Dijon Johnson was called for pass interference, giving the Bulls breathing room and a first down at the 24. The Bett ejection came a play later. Brown then completed a screen to Alvon Issac that appeared doomed, but the Bulls running back broke 3 Florida tackles near the line of scrimmage before galloping 29 yards to the 32, well into the range of Gramatica, a preseason Lou Groza Award favorite. This time, Gramatica didn’t miss.
The Gators, on the other hand, missed a vital opportunity.
A win over a good South Florida team was almost essential to any Playoff hopes Florida had, and a Playoff berth, which would be Florida’s first as a program, was a spoken goal for this group from the first day of spring practice.
It only gets harder from here.
Florida will play 4 ranked teams — and 3 ranked in the top 10 — over the next month. Two of those games will come on the road.
Late Saturday night, Napier and DJ Lagway talked about embracing what’s next.
“I’m heartbroken,” Lagway told the media following the game. “I’m excited to get back to work, though. Great teams peak in December, not September.”
That may be true.
But championship cultures beat USF on their home field in September.
Napier’s Florida?
They played like a team that expected to win. That played like a group that felt entitled to win.
But as they’ve done half the 40 games Napier has coached in Gainesville, Florida lost.
A championship mentality is nice to talk about.
Mediocrity is Florida’s reality.
Neil Blackmon covers SEC football and basketball for SaturdayDownSouth.com. An attorney, he is also a member of the Football and Basketball Writers Associations of America. He also coaches basketball.
