With its season on the line and head coach’s job in jeopardy, Florida football played with poise and physicality in a 29-21 upset win over No. 7 Texas on Oct. 4 at The Swamp.
A fourth straight challenge against a top 10 team looms when the Florida Gators (2-3, 1-1 SEC) play at No. 5 Texas A&M on Oct. 11 (7 p.m., ESPN). Florida coach Billy Napier doesn’t anticipate a letdown against the Aggies at Kyle Field, where a sellout crowd of 108,000 awaits in a night kickoff.
“This has got a chance to be a multiplier,” Napier said. “I’m hopeful that it will. I talked a little bit about that in the locker room after the game, obviously yesterday with the assistant coaches, they had a chance to be around players, and then we’ll start working on that today. But in general, we handled adversity well, now we’ve got to handle some success.”
Florida will face some familiar faces in its matchup with the Aggies (5-0, 2-0 SEC), who are off to an unbeaten start under second-year coach Mike Elko. Former UF linebackers coach Jay Bateman (defensive coordinator) and defensive line coach Sean Spencer (defensive line coach) are on TAMU’s coaching staff. In addition, former UF edge rusher TJ Searcy and linebacker Scooby Williams now play for the Aggies, though Williams has been sidelined the last few weeks with an injury.
The Gators are looking to avenge a 33-20 loss to the Aggies last year in The Swamp, a game in which quarterback Marcel Reed passed for 178 yards and 2 TDs and rushed for 83 yards and 1 TD. Reed has gone 5-0 as a starter for TAMU this season, passing for 1,256 yards with 11 TDs to 3 interceptions.
It’s a homecoming game of sorts for Florida starting quarterback DJ Lagway who is from Willis, Texas, about an hour’s drive from College Station. Lagway is coming into the matchup on a high note after passing for 298 yards and 2 TDs against Texas to earn SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors despite playing through most of the game with a minor leg injury.
“He’s doing fine,” Napier said. “Just some things that we’ll work our way through this week. But, in general, nothing that’s going to prevent him from practicing.”
Florida senior center Jake Slaughter said that players and coaches are up for the challenge of facing a Top 10-ranked team for the fourth straight week.
“You never want to make a team out to be Goliath and we’re David,” Slaughter said. “We’re in the same conference. We are competing week in and week out. We look forward to every challenge. You come to Florida to play great teams like Texas and Texas A&M, and Geogia. You want to play a schedule that is full of ranked teams. We look forward to it.”
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: After upset win over Texas, Florida football not thinking letdown at No. 5 Texas A&M
Reporting by Kevin Brockway, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
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