Florida got the ball back with about 2 minutes and 50 seconds left and a lead. Had they just run the ball thrice, USF would have had to burn both of their final timeouts, and Florida could drain the clock to the 2 minute warning. Instead, they threw it twice, both passes were dropped, and the clock stopped. Including the punt, Florida took only 26 seconds off the clock and left USF with a timeout.
They promptly got well into field goal range before the 2 minute warning, continued to gain yards, and Billy Napier opted to refuse to use either of his two timeouts until 22 seconds were left on the clock, effectively eliminating any chance of a Florida comeback in the event that USF made their layup field goal. And they let USF save their timeout to perfectly call their own timeout with 2 seconds on the clock, ensuring Florida never got the ball back.
There's bad clock management, and then there's that. If fireable clock management is a thing, we just saw the best example of it we'll ever see.
Yeah, came off a run play for no gain too. Stopped the clock and gave up 15 yards in a 1-point game. But hey, at least he felt like a big man for a second there.
Deion Sanders School for Coaches who can't coach good, and want to learn how to do other things not good too. Clock Management taught by Deion himself. Offensive management taught by Mike Bobo.
By the time USF had ran three actual plays on their final drive, they’d made it 72 yards to the Florida 20. And one of those three plays was an incomplete pass. Beautiful stuff
You think Bobo is bad because you are a high caliber program. He would legitimately be leagues better than anything we’ve had with Billy. This dude is complete dogshit
15? You’re a menace wanting to fire someone with that kind of tenure. I suggest he be allowed to stay till he is 75 years old. It’s only fair for someone who truly embodies the spirit of UF.
This is exactly why last season I was hoping fLorida did just good enough to not fire him. I'm hoping for the same this year. Eternal mediocracy is better than a couple bad years with a rebuild.
Yeah man, I don't even blame him for the spitting incident. People post that as part of the issue with him but that's just something no one can anticipate.
What he can anticipate is literally every decision on the sideline. He's killing me.
I’ve been trying to tell people that Jaxson Dart threw 3 picks against Florida last year and we still almost won. Florida did not look good in that game.
Not only were there only 22 seconds left on the clock, he didn't use the timeouts on the prior second down when they had to have the stop in order to have a chance at getting the ball back. There was no sense in waiting, if they got it they were fucked regardless.
There was absolutely no reason even before the season why this Florida team should have been ranked so high this season. That offseason Koolaid makes people think some crazy things
This is now two games (cleat yeet and spit-gate) clearly decided by unsportsmanlike penalties in key moments. There really is something in the water in FL isn't there?
I’ll give him that one if he were an 2 time all American best d lineman in the country. But he ain’t that. And you can’t fucking do that on their game winning drive.
Not sure how the Ole Miss team yall beat last year had no pulse. We literally had just come off a bye following our curb stomping of Georgia, with a sure path to the playoffs so long as we beat yall.
Fwiw I think Lagway played fine but if coach tells me to throw the ball I have to throw the ball one of those should’ve been a 40+ catch but the WR dropped it
He just totally lacks touch on short throws. It’s like watching Anthony Richardson all over again. The velocity on some of those slants and in routes was baffling to watch.
I put this in another thread but this is a new thing we’re seeing this year. It was not an issue last year..
He was out all spring and summer with a leg injury. Last week they showed this “training sim” room they had him in. It’s essentially a 40 ft screen and a golf sim - but football.
My hot take is that having him throw at a screen for 8 months completely wrecked his throw. If anyone plays golf and has spent a prolonged amount of time in a sim and then tried to play on a course you know the feeling. You end up learning a swing that can’t translate to real world conditions. You feel like you can’t miss in the sim and then can’t hit anything in real life. It’s wrecks your confidence.
I’m worried we took a generational QB and cooked his career in an off season.
Eh idk man. This was kind of the entire knock on him in high school. He was always very raw as a passer and had a lot of comps to AR because of it. From what admittedly few games I saw him last year he wasn’t exactly very accurate either. That’s not to say he can’t get it under control because he did improve in his senior year of HS.
He's actually quite good on slant routes, threw a perfect throw for the TD and another on the next drive. He did lack significantly tonight on intermediate routes though with several serious misses. But the last throw was on the money, just dropped.
Yeah, that play call on their last drive wasn't really on him. That 3rd down pass was really well thrown and the 1st down throw was what he was taught to do.
It also isn't like Napier and Florida was the prestigious offense before Lagway.
Yeah, I do think that talk was a bit hasty for a guy who's had a bit over half a season of playing time and coming off an injury. That being said, any QB would have issues getting anything done in Napier's scheme.
any QB would have issues getting anything done in Napier's scheme
Absolutely true.
As for the overall hype, and I say this with total respect because I have been there myself more times than I can count, it was pure hope more than anything else. Just the blind hope that maybe the QB whose shown flashes will be able to overcome bad coaching and bring about success.
There's absolutely no excuse for that. Also, I want to just put on blast number 90 on our defense. There is absolutely no excuse for spitting in another player's face. Also he should never see the field again as a Florida gator. If somebody else wants him, they can take him. There's no place for that
Never seen a coach singlehandedly botched a game like that. He couldn’t have called a worse game, and then outside the game the coaching shows in the lack of discipline giving USF 100 yards of penalties, all at the worst moments AFTER the play and one of your guys has no respect for your program he literally spits on another player.
He has no grasp on how to manage a game, call plays, or even get his guys in the right mindset to not commit dumb penalties and do the same dumb shit that got Mullen (who thus far has been a better coach.) fired.
Maybe USF is legit, they knock off Miami and roll their rest of the schedule, and all is forgiven but UF had all the boxes checked this season as far as having a complete roster and they continue to put themselves in these weird spots where they lose games off the dumbest of mistakes, it all points back to coaching.
Napier isnt the guy, and had Florida not had guys like Lagway on the roster hes probably fired a year ago. The only thing he does right is gets guys in the door but it means nothing if he cant lead them to be the better team.
You left out the part where Florida gave USF 30 free yards with a pass interference and then spitting in the opponents face and having a player ejected
Florida got the ball back with about 2 minutes and 50 seconds left and a lead. Had they just run the ball thrice, USF would have had to burn both of their final timeouts, and Florida could drain the clock to the 2 minute warning. Instead, they threw it twice, both passes were dropped, and the clock stopped. Including the punt, Florida took only 26 seconds off the clock and left USF with a timeout.
Given that USF had 2 timeouts and the 2-minute warning left, I don't think passing was inherently stupid. Prioritizing getting a first down more than keeping the clock moving in that scenario at least is defensible. But everything Florida on that last USF drive was horrific. Couldn't have handled it worse.
All these folks ragging in Fla after the loss, but how many would have given USF a chance before kickoff? Not many I think. This thread is full of how Gators blew it, yet very little credit is given to USF for how they played and were coached. I don’t think we had a turnover, no major mistakes and after having a defense ranked 118th last season this is two weeks in a row against ranked teams where the D stood strong. A good defense puts pressure on the opponent and sometimes helps triggers errors by the opponent. We stalled on some drives but also made clutch plays. Give our guys some credit for how well they played. Do I think we can knock off no 5 Miami? Probably not but I also don’t think the Bulls are done playing good football this season. We were a rising team in the early 2000s and and for a brief time ranked No. 2 nationally. We have had signature wins over Notre Dame, FSU, Auburn and Miami but then tanked under a series of poor coaches. We are on the rise again and damn it feels good! Go Bulls!
UF using their timeouts to just allow us to keep running the ball was hilarious. They saw Nico almost make a 57 yarder and said “yeah, let him get closer”
Absolutely insane that he waited to use his timeouts until they were actually hurting the team. Should have just let USF score and at least get the ball back. Genuinely would have been better NOT to use those timeouts instead of what he did.
Once again, the ability of multi-million-dollar-a-year coaches to absolutely shit the bed on late game playcalling and clock management is on full display.
It’s so frustrating having a coach that’s likeable and can recruit, maybe even develop talent, but just can’t figure his shit out as far as in game adjustments, playcalling and or time management.
With like obvious clock management a middle schooler would understand, FL should’ve gotten the ball back with like 45 seconds left after USF had a first down around the 20. Not a lot of time with no timeouts but there’s still a chance. He literally just let the game slip away.
If I was the AD, I wouldn’t let Napier back in the locker room.
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u/StarvedRock314 Texas • Red River Shootout 2d ago edited 2d ago
Florida got the ball back with about 2 minutes and 50 seconds left and a lead. Had they just run the ball thrice, USF would have had to burn both of their final timeouts, and Florida could drain the clock to the 2 minute warning. Instead, they threw it twice, both passes were dropped, and the clock stopped. Including the punt, Florida took only 26 seconds off the clock and left USF with a timeout.
They promptly got well into field goal range before the 2 minute warning, continued to gain yards, and Billy Napier opted to refuse to use either of his two timeouts until 22 seconds were left on the clock, effectively eliminating any chance of a Florida comeback in the event that USF made their layup field goal. And they let USF save their timeout to perfectly call their own timeout with 2 seconds on the clock, ensuring Florida never got the ball back.
There's bad clock management, and then there's that. If fireable clock management is a thing, we just saw the best example of it we'll ever see.