Sorry, Billy, however the drill.
That is going to harm us much more than it’s going to harm you.
I hate to do it, however the place you need to go.
That’s proper, we’re going to should put you in a timeout once more.
You’ve been a nasty Billy.
It’s again on the recent seat for you.
That’s the place Florida coach Billy Napier landed Saturday evening after South Florida — sure, USF — strutted into the Swamp and left with an 18-16 upset victory that may reside in Gators infamy. Dropping to a lesser in-state program in Gainesville initially of Napier’s fourth season is unacceptable, inexcusable and fairly presumably irreparable.
This was imagined to be a day of nostalgia, a celebration of Florida’s previous greatness. It was billed as “Champions Reunion Weekend” — a gathering of Gators royalty. However as a substitute of a coronation, it was Chumps Reunion Weekend, the place the present-day staff tripped over itself and face-planted in entrance of its personal historical past.
You couldn’t script a crueler irony. On the twenty fifth anniversary of honoring Steve Spurrier’s closing SEC title staff, Napier’s offense appeared extra just like the Doug Dickey days of the Seventies — when offense was non-compulsory and Gators soccer was extra punishment than celebration.
After which, as if so as to add insult to humiliation, the Bulls’ pivotal game-winning 87-yard drive was helped alongside when Florida defensive lineman Brendan Bett was ejected for — watch for it — spitting within the face of USF’s Cole Skinner. Spitting! Two days after Philadelphia Eagles star and Apopka Excessive alum Jalen Carter acquired tossed from an NFL sport for the very same factor. What are the percentages? It was a humiliation wrapped in a 15-yard penalty, gift-wrapped for the Bulls, and the start of the top for the Gators.
“When a man does one thing like that, he’s compromising the staff,” Napier stated of the spitting penalty. “He’s placing himself earlier than the staff. All the things the sport is about, you’re compromising.”
Nico Gramatica’s 20-yard chip shot as time expired sealed it for USF, however the chants that echoed as followers shuffled out of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium had been the actual dagger: “Hearth Billy! Hearth Billy!”
The persistence is gone. The goodwill Napier manufactured with that late-season four-game successful streak a 12 months in the past? Evaporated. Blown away like an affordable tailgate tent in a Gainesville thunderstorm.
On the identical day Gators legend Billy Donovan was inducted into the Basketball Corridor of Fame, Billy Napier was indicted into UF soccer’s corridor of disgrace.
Napier entered this season nonetheless combating to show he’s the person for the job, and by halftime Saturday, followers had been already sharpening the knives. By the point he walked into the postgame media convention, reporters had been brazenly asking whether or not he’s the appropriate man to steer this program. That’s not simply warmth on the seat – that’s the chair combusting.
Followers on the radio call-in reveals weren’t simply offended. They had been furious. They demanded he rent an offensive coordinator and blasted his play-calling.
“There’s no excuses right here. I’m not up right here to make excuses,” Napier stated of the onslaught of incoming criticism. “We created it. We deserve it. When you play soccer like that, you’re going to be criticized. It comes with the territory.”
Requested if he’s the appropriate man to steer UF shifting ahead, he replied: That’s a giant image query, and I feel proper now it’s extra about right this moment … and getting the soccer mounted as a result of in the end that’s going to determine how far we go round right here.”
This isn’t the identical Napier who swaggered into Gainesville again in 2021 with the catchphrase “scared cash don’t generate income.” He was imagined to be the fearless riverboat gambler. However to date, he’s appeared extra like Coupon-Clipping Billy, the place scared cash is dropping cash.
Saturday proved it. The Gators managed only one landing, and even that got here solely after electrical true freshman Vernell Brown III bailed them out with a 40-yard punt return, adopted by a late-hit penalty on USF. That’s it. That’s the entire offensive spotlight reel.
Within the second half alone, Florida had seven possessions. They punted six occasions. Six! Napier’s assault clunked and clanged like a dryer stuffed with sneakers.
Outcoached, Outclassed.
It was Alex Golesh and USF’s workers that appeared smarter, sharper, hungrier. USF quarterback Byrum Brown, not Gators QB DJ Lagway, was one of the best participant on the sector, slicing Florida’s protection together with his legs and his arm. He appeared like a magician. Lagway, Florida’s supposed prodigy, appeared like a freshman once more – crusing passes, lacking throws, and struggling to make performs together with his legs.
For a fan base that had topped Lagway because the savior of this system, it was a sobering actuality test. On this evening, USF had the higher quarterback, the higher play-caller, and the higher composure.
Florida appeared unprepared, undisciplined, and flat-out overwhelmed. That’s not only a dangerous evening. That’s a training indictment.
On the very weekend Florida honored two nationwide championships and 15 convention titles, Napier’s Gators authored probably the most devastating defeats in current Swamp historical past. As the ultimate whistle blew, USF’s gamers and coaches hugged, danced, and celebrated on the hallowed turf. Their chants of “U-S-F! U-S-F!” ricocheted by way of a stadium that, moments earlier, had been shocked into silence.
For 3 hours, the Gators had been embarrassed in entrance of their legends, their rivals, and their followers. And now they march into essentially the most brutal stretch of their schedule – at No. 3 LSU, adopted by showdowns with No. 5 Miami, No. 7 Texas, and No. 19 Texas A&M. If Napier couldn’t determine South Florida, what occurs when he’s matching teaching wits with Brian Kelly and Steve Sarkisian?
The painful half is we’ve seen this film earlier than. Final season started with humiliating blowouts towards Miami and Texas A&M. Napier’s job safety was wobbling then, too. However he salvaged hope with that late-season rally, capped by a convincing win over Florida State. For a second, followers believed perhaps – simply perhaps – the imaginative and prescient was lastly coming collectively.
That phantasm vanished Saturday. Three sloppy hours towards USF undid all of it.
The place does Napier go from right here? His gamers appeared shaken. His fan base has turned. And his schedule is about to get a lot, a lot more durable.
Napier wanted this season to really feel totally different. As a substitute, it looks like the identical slow-motion automobile crash over again.
And so, again on the recent seat he goes.
He can’t escape it.
Sorry, Billy, however the drill.
E mail me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on social media @BianchiWrites and hearken to my new radio present “Sport On” each weekday from 3 to six p.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com/pay attention
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