Instant Analysis: Brutal start to Napier’s second season

[Mark Wheeler]

A new quarterback, a new and (supposedly) improved defense, year two of the Billy Napier culture, and a whole lot of hype. All of that, combined with Utah’s star quarterback Cam Rising being ruled out as he continues recovering a torn ACL from last season’s Rose Bowl, left Florida and its fans hopeful — if not outright excited — entering Salt Lake City Thursday evening. But the hostile environment proved its formidability as a stagnant offense, slow defense and bevy of penalties formulated a 24-11 Gators loss.

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[JayM]

Mark, it was a bad game but your opening premise is completely off the mark. "Whole lot of hype" is wrong. There's been no hype, no expectation at all. Excitement? I haven't seen that.

 

[BD489]

Mark, it was a bad game but your opening premise is completely off the mark. "Whole lot of hype" is wrong. There's been no hype, no expectation at all. Excitement? I haven't seen that.

I think there was hype inside the building. There have been stories that Napier thinks he has a strong team.

 

[drumlin]

I agree it was a frustrating game to watch, but there were also some positives.
I haven't seen the stats on missed tackles, but it seemed for the most part the tackling on defense was better this game compared to the last couple of years.
Mertz also did not look too bad.
The poor performance of the offensive line also shows how valuable O'Cyrus Torrence was last year.
Their problems started last year in the bowl game when Torrence sat out.
Florida could not run the ball nor protect the QB in that game either.
Two things need to improve - the play of the O-line and the discipline.
The number of penalties so far under Napier has been curious since he has said from the beginning that that was one of his main objectives for the team - cut down on penalties.