Florida’s futile offense reaches historical lows in loss at Miami
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Florida didn’t just lose its 3rd straight game against a bitter in-state rival on Saturday night.
The Gators did it with offensive numbers that were historically awful, adding to the misery of a 26-7 loss at No. 4 Miami. Even worse, Florida‘s offense reached new lows for everybody to see, in a primetime showcase game on ABC. After putting up just 16 points in a home loss to South Florida in Week 2 that got this freefall started and managing only 10 points in a Week 3 primetime loss at LSU, it was more of the same in Week 4 with a measly 7 points.
Except it really wasn’t more of the same against the Hurricanes. It was far worse, as ESPN and SEC Network analyst Cole Cubelic laid out in a Sunday morning post that all of the bad news any Gator fan could ever fear. Cubelic dug up the historic ineptitude that Billy Napier‘s offense reached on Saturday night.
Like, Florida only gaining 141 total yards, its fewest in a game since 1999.
There was also the Gators failing to reach 10 points in a game for the first time since 2022, which just happened to be Napier’s first season in Gainesville.
There was Florida scoring 10 points or less in back-to-back games for the first time since 1989.
And, finally, there was the UF offense going 0 for 13 or worse on 3rd down for the first time since 1998.
If there’s any shred of good news on Sunday morning, it’s that Florida is headed into a bye week, so the Gators will have a chance to regroup after one of the most forgettable 3-game stretches in recent program history.
The bad news? Waiting for Florida after the bye is Arch Manning and No. 8 Texas, which will visit Gainesville on Oct. 4.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
