Putting some spit on it won’t help Florida football this season – rather it was quite the opposite.
A week removed from having just its second game ever in school history without a penalty, Florida (1-1) was stunned by South Florida with yellow flags being a big culprit in the 18-16 loss at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 6.
However, arguably the biggest penalty of the game came during USF’s game-winning drive.
Just after the Bulls picked up a first down from a defensive passive interference call, UF defensive tackle Brendan Bett tacked on an additional 15 yards for an unsportsmanlike penalty that featured him spitting on an opposing player.
“I haven’t had that conversation with him yet,” Florida coach Billy Napier said. “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. There will be lessons to be learned there. It’s that simple.”
Bett targeted USF lineman Cole Skinner, which was clearly witnessed by a referee. That penalty helped the Bulls orchestrate an 8-play, 87-yard drive that set up a game-winning 20-yard field goal for USF (2-0).
“There’s no place for that as an individual and certainly representing the University of Florida,” said senior defensive back Devin Moore, who had eight tackles in the loss. “There’s no place for that here. This is a prestigious program, and that will be addressed for sure.”
Bett was susquently ejected from the game.
“Brendan, he’s a heck of a player,” UF quarterback DJ Lagway said. “He made a mistake there. That doesn’t identify his character at all. He’s such a nice guy, nice kid, nice person to have in the locker room. He was in there crying and stuff like that, feeling bad, talking to the coaches, talking to the players, and apologizing for it.”
Those two penalties made for just two the 11 flags thrown against Florida as they accounted for 103 yards by the end of the night.
“We can live with the technical penalties,” Napier said. “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.”
Three of the four scores in the first half were responsible for penalties called on the Gators with UF holding a 9-6 lead by halftime. The Gators were flagged four times and only for 35 yards in the first half, but each were costly.
On Florida’s first drive, the Gators’ first penalty of the season played a role in forcing them to settle for a 28-yard field goal. Just after Tony Livingston dropped a potential 13-yard touchdown on first-and-10 from, the flag came on the next play, with offensive lineman Bryce Lovett called for a false start. An incomplete pass and then a 9-yard completion led to UF’s first field goal.
On USF’s first scoring drive of the game, the Gators were called for two penalties. Yet the most frustrating was an illegal substation penalty called on fourth-and-2 to give the Bulls a first down and help set up a 38-yard field goal.
Another frustrating sequence of penalties occurred on Florida’s opening drive in the second quarter as separate potential touchdowns were called back from penalties. The first featured running back Ja’Kobe Johnson breaking away for a 20-yard score, but Kamryn Waites was called for holding.
“Those are huge plays in the game because they allow the opponent to hang around,” Napier said. “So we’re in the red area a couple of 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.”
Two plays later, quarterback DJ Lagway seemingly found Livingston for a 14-yard touchdown pass. However, tight end Hayden Hansen was called for passing interference down field, which led to the Gators again having to settle for another field goal.
“We just didn’t score touchdowns,” Napier said. “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.”
Florida will go on the road to face LSU on Saturday, Sep. 13.
Reach Florida Gators writer Andrew Abadie at aabadie@gannett.com or on X (formerly Twitter) at @AndrewAbadie. You can also find him on Facebook at Andrew Abadie Sports Reporter or on Instagram @andrewabadie_sports.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: What Florida football’s Billy Napier said about penalty-plagued game, spitting incident vs USF
Reporting by Andrew Abadie, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
