How Florida Gators Coach Billy Napier can Lessen the Heat

Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier doesn't just need a win on Saturday, he needs style points against Samford.

Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier is in the hottest of hot seats in Gainesville. / Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK

After Saturday's debacle, the Florida Gators needs answers. More importantly, Billy Napier, right now, coaches for his job. Make no mistake, his seat picks up extra cash, doubling as an incinerator. A fanbase, and most certainly alums started calling for his immediate removal as head coach Saturday night.

With absolutely zero margin for error, Napier needs to engineer a win on Saturday to keep people at bay. However, Florida faces an outmatched opponent in Samford. As a result, they need to win in convincing fashion. Style points matter more to Napier from an optics viewpoint. Napier needs to alter his approach and try these steps.

Start DJ Lagway

Graham Mertz left the Miami game with a concussion. Under those circumstances, rushing him back against a FCS team does not make sense. Instead, slotting the freshman quarterback in, gives Florida so many options. First and foremost, DJ Lagway needs extensive snaps to acclimatize to the speed of college football. Playing mop up time, due to injury doesn't prove anything. 

Florida trailed by twenty points when he entered against Miami. That eliminated the run game, gutting half of the approach. Plus, Samford enters the game, already surrendering 329 yards to a dual-threat quarterback, and no one is going to confuse West Georgia's Davin Wydner with Lagway.

Now, Lagway needs that confidence boost to start even within a game and then helm the controls until Florida places the game out of reach. 

Screen Game

While Lagway gets his proverbial feet wet for the majority of the game, the installed offense needs a big of a wrinkle. Granted, the freshman shows the consistent ability to make every throw, regardless of depth and location. At the same time, what fully immerses him early, building up momentum, resides with the screen game and not just with the running backs. 

Trey Wilson, with his speed and explosion will easily slide through the wash, bursting into the open field. Samford will never account for every screen and Florida wideouts can block down and spring the wideouts. Short completions can turn into long plans against an overmatched team.

Send Extra Rushers

In all honesty, Florida doesn't possess a starting player in the front six with any semblance of pass rush twitch. They play a robotically-stiff style that doesn't feature nuance or production. Under those circumstances, sending more than Samford can block makes sense.

Those extra rushers force chaos and raises the probability of a missed assignment. That will free someone upfront, leading to a big day. Now, with those stats, perspective arrives. If Florida needs to send the house to silence Samford, it speaks of deeper issues, but that will need addressing after.

Billy Napier needs a resounding victory. The Gators need to obliterate Samford, leaving no doubt.