Cam's Column: When is Enough Truly Enough?

Saturday's loss to Tennessee had every stereotypical issue, mistake and miscue evident during the Billy Napier era. Sitting at 3-3 of year three in his tenure, when will enough truly be enough for the Florida Gators to move on?

Florida head coach Billy Napier during a game between Florida and Tennessee in Neyland Stadium, in Knoxville, Tenn., Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. / Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Saturday Down South's Neil Blackmon summed it up perfectly with his tweet that came midway through the fourth quarter of the Florida Gators' 23-17 loss to No. 8 Tennessee.

"Florida has more first downs, fewer penalties, more first downs, more rushing yards, a higher success rate. Vols lead. Vintage Napier era stuff," he wrote.

Florida has more first downs, fewer penalties, more first downs, more rushing yards, a higher success rate.

Vols lead.

Vintage Napier era stuff.

— Neil W. Blackmon (@nwblackmon) October 13, 2024

Saturday's loss to the Vols had pretty much everything that summed up Billy Napier's tenure to this point.

It had offensive line struggles, both in protection and in penalties. It had a bonehead special teams mistake that left points off the board (which would have likely ended up being enough for Florida to win the game) alongside a missed field goal in overtime. It had red zone miscues that also left points on the board.

In fact, Florida only mustered three first-half points despite four trips to the red zone.

The only consistent thing from the Napier era that didn't make an appearance on Saturday was a bad defense. Florida's 11 defenders were arguably the only good thing to come out of Knoxville after holding the nation's No. 5 rushing attack to 138 yards on 40 carries, forcing two turnovers in the first half and shutting out a top-ten team in the first half.

They did their job, and they did it well.

Offensively, in which Napier is his own offensive coordinator (no, it's not Russ Callaway or Rob Sale despite the two holding that title), was Florida's worst unit, and it didn't have to be. Early red zone failures, whether it be pure play call decisions or execution, combined with a poor output from midway through the third quarter until the last drive lost the Gators the game.

Granted, Napier didn't fumble the ball on the 1-yard line, or miss a block on fourth-and-one from Tennessee's 18-yard line, or throw an interception right to a Vols' defender deep in your own territory, or fail to get off the field for a field goal try, or miss a kick in overtime, etc. I could go on.

However, the decisions to purely run some of those plays falls on him. Sometimes the most predictable play call is the one to run. A jet motion option with Eugene Wilson III on fourth-and-one is a prime example of overthinking when you have a 240-pound, dual-threat quarterback handing him the ball off or a 216-pound senior running back who had averaged over seven yards a carry on the night.

I won't completely shame Napier for Graham Mertz's fumble on the quarterback sneak. It's a play that's worked in the past. Again, though, Montrell Johnson Jr. had clearly been the answer on that drive.

Not to bring up the preseason sunshine pumping, but remember the comparisons between the Mertz-Lagway dynamic to that of Chris Leak and Tim Tebow in 2006? I don't remember Chris Leak running a QB sneak on the goal line, but I certainly remember Tebow doing it.

Hindsight will always be 20-20, though. If Wilson III converted that fourth down, Napier would be credited for a creative play call. If Mertz didn't fumble, he be praised for trusting his veteran signal-caller.

Napier also wasn't the reason Mertz and Johnson Jr. suffered injuries that forced them out of the game on the same drive. Injuries happen. It's football. And, it certainly had an effect on the game.

Again, players made mistakes, sure, but at the end of the day, it's year three of Napier at the helm. These were mistakes made in years one and two, albeit with a completely different roster. But this year was supposed to be his team.

The argument of "once he gets his players, they'll be good," is moot. It's out the door. It's kicked to the curb.

Napier has his players. Yet, the same mistakes are constantly being made. The same coaching miscues are constantly being made. The "one step forward, two steps back" is constantly happening.

This falls on the head coach. He's had time to implement his system, get the right players on the roster, improve and reorganize the coaching staff. Yet, nothing's changed from year one to year three other than the names and numbers on the jerseys.

Now, I'm not going to use this to publicly state that Napier should be fired as the head coach. I already wrote about that after the team's loss to Texas A&M. And, to be fair, the team on Saturday looked much better than the team that played the Aggies.

They competed for four quarters. They made clutch plays late in the game despite issues early in the game. They didn't back down from the task at hand. Credit should be given there.

However, that's not to say the team is where it needs to be in year three of a coaching tenure. That's clear. And on Napier's hot seat, I still believe it's a matter of "when" and not "if." Saturday's loss only added fuel to that fire.

The question now becomes when is enough truly enough for the trigger to be pulled on this tenure?