“It was embarrassing” Week 1 of College Football ended on a bitter note for the Florida Gators. They suffered a massive loss against the Miami Hurricanes. Billy Napier entered Florida in 2021 with high hopes but failed massively throughout his tenure. Now, this season with the team’s loose performance, everyone, including Paul Finebaum, is raising questions on Billy’s capabilities as a coach. 

The Florida Gators’ performance failed to satisfy all its fans. Today, in a panel conversation with Matt Barrie on the YouTube channel of the ESPN College Football, Paul Finebaum joined to share his thoughts on Florida vs Miami week 1 gameplay. Paul discussed his thoughts on Gators’ performance under HC Billy Naiper as his transfer to be a key asset for the team’s future. He showed his discontent with the team’s performance and also raised questions about the team’s future under Billy. As Billy joined Florida with a huge contract amount of $51.8 M, and failed to fulfill his goal. The loss is massive. Paul said Billy Napier couldn’t afford to do it, but he did. Paul also said “The credibility he gained in the offseason and the goodwill, Billy Napier could be coach of the year with a seven or eight-win season, seemed to vanish at the Swamp”.

But looks like it’s hard for Billy to win even one. The game turned out as one of the worst season openers for the Gators, with a high margin loss. It is still hard to understand what went wrong during the match. Even HC Billy Napier was ashamed of the team’s performance after the match during an interview, he said “I don’t have a ton of excuses.” But Napier also mentioned that the team’s alignment was strong following the offseason. Then what happened to their gameplay? However, Florida made significant success throughout the match in terms of talent and execution, making a powerful impact.

Billy Napier’s Florida Gators weak gameplay

Florida started the 2024 season on a wrong foot. The Gators lost with a high margin of 41-17 washout loss to Miami. The Miami Hurricanes were outstanding throughout the match, making it hard for the Gators to score against them. Overall, the Gators ran only for 139 yards. Florida’s running back Montrell Johnson Jr’s 71-yard touchdown run in the second half of the match gave some hope to the team. But the offensive life was very poor as they couldn’t even move the ball throughout the game.

Miami did give them a hard time. The team was lacking efficiency throughout the match. Even star QB Graham Mertz couldn’t do much in the starting position. He just scored 11-of-20 for 91 passing yards and unfortunately had to because of an inception in the second half. Well, this loss is going to make it tough for team Billy Napier to qualify for the playoffs. What are your thoughts on it? Do let us know in the comments!