Desmond Howard says Florida’s loss to USF exposed an issue with culture
By Rolando Rosa
Published:
Florida will have a major test in order to not start a losing streak when it takes on host No. 3 LSU in Week 3. ESPN’s Desmond Howard is worried that head coach Billy Napier doesn’t have a handle on the Gators after the Week 2 home loss against South Florida.
During the Week 3 edition of ESPN’s College GameDay, Howard takes issue with Florida‘s intangibles, particularly despite initially having high hopes prior to the season.
“We saw what happened a week ago. Listen, we all knew that Florida was going to have a gauntlet of a schedule to go through. Just didn’t know it was going to start a week ago against South Florida…I had really, really high expectations of Florida coming into the season. I really did,” Howard said. “DJ Lagway, when he’s healthy, he’s 1 of the best quarterbacks in all of college football. We know they’ve got talent all over the field.”
Howard cites the sheer volume of untimely penalties against South Florida as a warning that Florida is significantly underachieving.
“But when you watched them against USF, lack of discipline and that’s a byproduct of the culture,” Howard said. “I think they have a culture there that’s not indicative of winning despite all the talent they have around there. 11 penalties for 103 yards, taking touchdowns off the board because you’re getting penalized…I think it’s a culture issue, not a talent issue.”
Florida at LSU is slated for a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff (ABC).
