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Billy Napier and his Florida football team have a crucial season ahead, and it didn't get off to a good start on Saturday. The Gators opened the season at home against rival Miami, and it wasn't pretty. The Hurricanes have a critical season ahead as well, and they were the team that came ready to play on Saturday. Miami went on to win the game 41-17.
Florida football has a lot of work to do if they are going to find success this season. One thing that Billy Napier wants his team to do is block out the negativity on social media.
“We got to go to work on the football part, you know,” Napier said, according to a post from Chomped Sports. “And I think we got to get more – we got to become a more consistent team, and we have to execute better. And if we can focus on those things, and not necessarily what some guy in his basement is saying in, you know, rural, Central Florida on social media. Then we got a chance to get better.”
There definitely is a lot of negativity circulating on social media from the fan base after Saturday's performance, but it makes sense that Gators fans are upset. Miami also had a underwhelming season last year and they have their backs against the wall this season, too. They came into the swamp and handily beat Florida in week one in a game that was expected to be even. Florida fans aren't happy.
Florida football has a tall mountain to climb
Florida football's week one performance isn't a good sign for what's to come, that's for sure. The Gators were expected to compete and maybe even win on Saturday, but they weren't even close to being on the same level as Miami.
There a lot of concerns going forward for the Gators, but the biggest one has to be in regard to the remainder of their schedule. Florida got exposed on Saturday against a ranked team, but they have a lot of matchups that might be more difficult than that. The Gators still have to play Texas A&M, Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, LSU, Ole Miss and Florida State.
From what we saw on Saturday, Florida likely doesn't stand a chance against any of those teams. That means that the Gators are likely going to lose at least eight games this year. Their other games are against Samford, Mississippi State, UCF and Kentucky. It wouldn't be surprising to see Florida drop a couple of those games as well. The point is, if Florida continues to play how they played on Saturday, they could end up having a historically bad season.
Florida should be able to get a win this upcoming weekend as they will be back at home hosting Samford. If the Gators can't win that one…oh boy.
Florida and Samford will kick off at 7:00 ET on Saturday from Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. The game will be airing on ESPN+, and Florida is a big favorite.
