Billy Napier’s future at Florida is still up for debate, but he might have just prolonged the program’s search for a new head coach. Florida’s 29-21 upset win over then 9th-ranked Texas shook the college football world.
Florida exposed Texas struggling and simple offense. Texas only converted 27 percent of its third downs. Arch Manning was sacked six times in the game and was unable to get sufficient time for shot plays downfield. The Gator defense was able to force two turnovers coming from interceptions.
Arch Manning finished the game, completing only 55 percent of his passes for 263 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. The constant pressure from Florida caused Manning to force passes and rush his reads, leading to a dominating performance from the defense.
Dj Lagway showed why he had so much hype coming into the season by going 21 of 28 on passing attempts for 298 yards and two touchdowns with a 94.9 quarterback rating. The offense looked explosive for the majority of the game. Jaden Baugh rushed 27 times for 107 yards and a score. The leading receiver was Dallas Wilson with 6 receptions for 111 yards and two touchdowns. A performance that the Gator faithful was long awaited all season.
After Florida dropped its first loss of the season to an unranked South Florida team, followed by an offense slugfest in a loss to LSU, Napier was in the hot seat in Gainesville. Florida has just shocked the college football world. The defense was never an issue for Florida, rather it was the offense, the side of the ball Napier specializes in.
As the offensive play caller for Florida, Napier was the center of blame for Florida’s extremely poor start to the season. Saturday against Texas everything seemed to click. It was balance between the running and passing game, and most importantly they weren’t putting their defense in tough situations all game with constant turnovers.
If Napier can continue this impressive playcalling throughout the season, it will surely make Florida a competitive program once again for such a tough schedule and potentially save his job.
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