I don't know.
I don't at all want to take away from the fight the players showed on Saturday. They were all in and put it on the line until the very end. Billy Napier and his staff deserve credit for that.
Does that change the projection of the program under him or mean that he should be retained?
I don't think so.
Despite injuries, if you are able to take the No. 2 team down to the wire in your first season - that is without question a positive sign and something to build on.
If you are able to do it in your second season, it's nice, but somewhat less impressive.
Here in the third season, with 33 games to judge him on, as I stated above, they deserve credit for not giving up, but is it a game changer?
If Napier was 5-9 or 6-8 against ranked opponents heading into the game, you could justify that loss a little better. However, he was 2-12, and is now 2-13.
If Napier had been 4-6 or 5-5 against traditional rivals heading into the game, you can forgive a loss there. However, he was 1-9, and is now 1-10.
As it is, the progress shown is that the game wasn't a blowout. Three years in, is being competitive a mountain you want to plant your flag on?
33 games in, there is no number you can point to where you can say that this is proof that he has this on the right track.
15-18 overall
10-18 overall against FBS opponents
2-13 against ranked opponents
1-10 against traditional rivals
8-13 in the SEC
3-9 against SEC opponents away from the Swamp
These are all good and valid points, and I don't want to diminish the importance of the record on the field.
But, unfortunately, it does not really look at the whole picture.
People tend to ignore the state of the Florida football program, looking only at three "national championships" and concluding that it's some sort of God-given right that Florida should be winning championships every year.
This attitude ignores the fact that Florida has been playing football since 1906 and didn't win an SEC championship until 1984 - that's 78 years for the math-impaired.
So the program is not really on par with some of the other major brands.
People also tend to ignore the fact the the football program had been behind the rest of the SEC in status of the football infrastructure - from lack of an IPF, outdated locker rooms, lack of modern housing, etc.
The program finally caught up with the rest of the SEC two years ago, but now everyone else is
updating facilities they already had built.
The status of the team's personnel has been noted many times in terms of lack of SEC talent, especially along the OL and DL.
While Napier has recruited well and general talent level has improved, I think the one valid criticism has been lack of depth at some key positions.
Napier has emphasized improving the culture, which I think has been underestimated and misunderstood by the average fan who has never had to compete on an elite level.
This includes discipline, focus, mental attitude and leadership, which Napier has noted had been absent.
One should not underestimate the role of upper classmen in providing this leadership in terms of example setting.
Florida has lacked this, as evidence in last year's roster that had few seniors/juniors and had to play true freshmen at multiple positions.
This should improve as the roster adds more experience, and I think it has improved over the course of this year.
Some people wanted a quick fix to the program, but I am not sure any coach, outside of Nick Saban, could have provided that.
Maybe other coaches could have done it quicker, but regardless, I think a crash-and-burn needed to be done to the roster.
Some losing years were inevitable.
As for the subject of this post, the fact that the team has been playing hard is important in providing the mental attitude of the team.
Think about the opposite - a team loaded with five-stars that do not play hard ... this would surely result in a losing record in the SEC.
I also am not saying Napier is out of the woods yet, since there are more games to be played.
I would like to see how the rest of the season goes to see if they continue to play hard, or if they pack it in as in previous years, most notably in Mullen's last year.
When the season is done, I think we will be able to better judge the state of the program in terms of is it moving forward or not.
