It was not the result that the Gator Nation was hoping for on Saturday when Florida football hosted the USF Bulls inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Instead of a tune-up victory ahead of a brutal Southeastern Conference schedule, Billy Napier and Co. took an 18-16 loss — the program’s first ever to their Tampa-based cousins.
A lot went wrong for the Orange and Blue in the embarrassing defeat, ranging from poor performances and play-calling to mental errors and disciplinary issues that ultimately sank the ship. Much of the onus lies on Napier and his staff, but players own their share of the blame as well.
Not to mention, this USF team appears to be a much better corps than we have seen in years past.
After evening his record in Gainesville to 20-20 as Florida’s skipper, Napier spoke with the sports media about his team and their devastating Week 2 loss. Here is a look at what he had to say.
Opening statement
“Not good enough, and it’s my responsibility. I think when you evaluate the game, the red zone missed opportunities caught up with us, and we let them hang around. Certainly, the penalties contributed to the game. I think we had over 100 yards in penalties. It extended their drives, and it slowed down our drives. You add in the bad snap for the safety, and then you lose the explosive play battle and you lose the turnover margin, you don’t deserve the right to win.
“We had seven possessions in the second half and punted six times and ultimately let them hang around. They kick a field goal there. They take it down the field and kick a field goal to win for us.
“I want to keep it short and sweet. I think that we can do much better, we can coach better, we can play better. Obviously, I don’t like these any more than our fans do or you do. We have to do much better. I think that we have a group that will respond, and tomorrow we’ll present that opportunity.
“I think that sums up the game. I know you’ve got questions. So what are they?”
Undisciplined actions by your team: how surprising was that?
“Yeah, I think the procedure penalties… obviously, we can live with the technical penalties. There’s always going to be a handful of those. The ones that keep you up at night are the ones that are player decision-making, so there’s got to be some ownership there on both ends.
“They’re under my leadership. It’s ultimately my responsibility. So we need to eliminate the false starts. We need to eliminate the personal fouls. We did have a substitution penalty as well. So those are the ones as coaches that we have to take responsibility for.”
Is that coaching, or do you put it on them?
“No. I think that the players make mistakes, it’s part of the game, but I do think that ultimately it’s my responsibility. So I think it is coaching.”
What’s the challenge for you guys ahead now?
“I don’t think there’s any question about it. Look, this will be a challenge. It will be a challenge for every individual in the organization, player and staff. But I do think the game can teach you a lot, and I think we’ll have our opportunity to respond. I think that this group has been through some of these battles before. I’m hopeful that can help us.
“Look, I’m more concerned with the football. Ultimately, I think there’s a lot of positive. In terms of the other stuff, the football’s got to get better. We’ve got to take ownership of the football.”
What’s the message to fans? 14 straight sell-outs?
“It was incredible.”
(Speaker interrupted)
“Yeah, they were a factor. We have no… there’s no excuse here. I’m not up here to make excuses.”
How did you view clock management in last two minutes?
“We had two. At that point, there’s going to be a field goal kicked. They had one, so they had an extra down. So regardless of when the timeouts get called, it’s going to end up about the same.”
Are you concerned about not meeting preseason expectations?
“We created it. We deserve it. If you play football like that, you’re going to be criticized. It comes with the territory, right? Only thing you can do is go get it fixed, and that’s what we’ll start working on tomorrow.”
What did you say to your player about spitting penalty?
“Well, I haven’t had that conversation with him yet. We’ll take a good look at it, but it’s unacceptable. I think we’ve got a lot of players in that room as well that have the same belief that it’s unacceptable.
“When a guy does something like that, he’s compromising the team. He’s putting himself before the team. Everything the game is about, you’re compromising. So there will be lessons to be learned there. Yeah, it’s that simple.”
How would you assess step back that defense appeared to take?
“I think that the ball’s in the air. I think we’ve got two players breaking on the ball. I think there’s opportunity there. I think ultimately there, there’s a quick substitution. We’ve got to get our call in. I think that was the biggest issue is we didn’t necessarily have a call. They snapped it as quick as possible.
“In general, there’s an opportunity to make a play on the ball. We misjudged the ball a little bit. Ultimately, I think that’s the thing that you’re going to evaluate.”
Do you think you’re the right man for this program?
“Yeah, I think I’m more concerned with doing my job to help lead these young men. That’s a big picture question, and I think right now it’s more about today. It’s more about what we do tomorrow, and I think that’s what we’ve got to get consumed with.
“I think I’m consumed with doing the best job I can do for the players, leading the staff, and getting the football fixed because ultimately that’s going to decide how far we go around here.”
How much leeway does DJ have in getting the play right?
Is that a by-product of just him continuing to grow as a quarterback in ninth or 10th start?
“I can take a better look at it and let you know on Monday. I like to watch the tape. But I do think there’s a lot we can do better. There’s going to be ownership from staff and players here, but in general, I’ll be able to give you a better answer on Monday.”
Will this loss galvanize the group?
Last year, you praised the team for not fracturing amid the difficult circumstances.
“Yeah, we won’t have that issue. We won’t have that problem. This group, they won’t splinter. There’s too much good in that room. That’s not the issue.”
What were your thoughts on offensive play calling tonight?
“I think there’s a ton of missed opportunities in the game early. I think that we shot ourselves in the foot quite a bit. I think we played from behind the sticks. Penalties were a major issue.
“Then I think we probably were — we didn’t get it done in the second half. We had seven possessions and six punts. To me, when I think about it, I think about the second half. I think there’s some opportunities there to make some plays, but I also think we contribute to that as coaches.
“I’d like to watch the tape before I comment on that, but in general, I think there’s a combination of both. That’s how I would say it.”
How costly was it to have those two touchdowns called back?
“Yeah, I think the holding penalty was definitely a penalty. We grabbed the guy. I think the OPI, I think it will be up for debate. We’ll see what that looks like when we turn it in. I think the guy’s running a route. There’s some… yeah.
“Again, those are huge plays in the game because they allow the opponent to hang around. So we’re in the red area a couple different times. We have two touchdowns called back. We have false start penalties in the red area. We’re forced to kick field goals. We got nine points to show for it at the half. We moved the ball. I think we had close to 220-something yards at halftime. So we had moved it up and down the field. We just didn’t score touchdowns.
“Look, we can sit here and talk about all of these technical things, but it’s not good enough. We’ve got work to do. You guys know it. I know it. Anybody that watched it knows it. We got to take ownership of it, and we got to go back to work. That’s it.”
The one drive where they get the ball back, what kind of went into that?
Is that just one where you guys got to line up and just get first downs at this point?
“Sure, that’s exactly what you needed to do at that point. I think we got ourselves into a good play. We had a chance on third down to put the game away basically, right? So we had a matchup in the slot and we had a chance to make a play, and the game’s essentially over at that point.
“But there’s a lot of individual plays. It’s the summation of them all. We contributed too much to their success.
“The last thing I want to say is I don’t want to discredit South Florida. I think they did a lot of good things out there. I have respect for how they play. Give them some credit for hanging around and finding a way to win the game. But I do think that we had our opportunities to win the game tonight, and we’ve got to go get it done.
“We’ve got to clean up these things that are under our control.”
Positive ending here, please? Tre Wilson, Vernell Brown, the big punt return
“Two really good slot players, both made a bunch of plays tonight. We tried like crazy to get them involved, we did. Obviously, the punt return was huge. We were able to capitalize on that. So those will be bright spots, but it’s hard to have any when you don’t get the results you want. So back to work here.”
This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: ‘Not good enough and it’s my responsibility’: Billy Napier talks after loss to USF Bulls
Reporting by Adam Dubbin, Gators Wire / Gators Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
