By: Kenneth Harrison

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

You may have heard that the #13 Florida Gators lost to USF over the weekend, 18-16. The game was at home at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, aka The Swamp.

South Florida deserves credit. They started the season by beating #25 Boise State 34-7. With that being said, Florida views their program as superior to South Florida. This is a loss that cannot happen for a coach on the hot seat like Billy Napier.

“It’s not good enough,” Coach Billy Napier said. “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.”

Napier’s record at Florida is 20-20, with a 14-7 home record. He’s been 1-1 after the first 2 games each season he’s been in Gainesville.

The offense finished with 355 yards but they had to settle for three field goals. Florida’s lack of discipline was on display. The Gators held a one-point lead in the final three minutes of the game.

They had two costly penalties on South Florida’s final drive. Defensive back Dijon Johnson was called for pass interference. On the next play, defensive lineman Brendan Bett was flagged and ejected on the final drive for spitting at an opponent.

The surprising thing is this was two days after Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter was ejected for spitting on Dak Prescott.

“I haven’t had that conversation with him yet,” Napier said of Bett. “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.”

That helped set up the 20-yard field goal by Nico Gramatica as time expired. This was the first road win against a ranked opponent for USF since they beat #16 Notre Dame on September 3, 2011.

“We created it. We deserve it,” Napier said. “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 (Sunday).”

This was Florida’s first defeat at home against a school from Florida, other than Florida State or Miami, since a 16-14 loss to Stetson in 1938.

Clearly UF fans are angry and talks about firing Napier have resurfaced.

The next game is on the road at #3 LSU. The last time the Gators won in Baton Rouge was 2016. The following games are at #5 Miami, home against #7 Texas and at #16 Texas A&M.  The odds seem to be stacked against Napier.

They needed to beat South Florida to have a chance to get to six wins. I think UF will finish with a losing record. The question is, how will the fan base react if they lose their next four games? I wonder when they will run out of patience. I don’t think he will make it to the end of the season.

His buyout is 85% of his current remaining contract, which would be $19.38 million after this season, with 50% of the buyout ($9.7 million) being due within 30 days of Napier being fired and the rest being paid out in equal installments every July through 2028.

There is no offset for the buyout if Napier gets another job.