Billy Napier: Gators Have 'Bigger Aspirations' Than Bowl Eligibility
Photo: Billy Napier and the Florida Gators; Credit: Alex Shepherd
How important would it be for the Florida Gators (5-4, 2-4 SEC) to make a bowl game to conclude Billy Napier's first season in charge?
The feat would be significant, sure, but not for potential bragging rights or the pride that would come with it.
This past Monday, Napier assessed the benefits that would come with bowl eligibility. He not only made note of the additional practices and meetings Florida would be able to conduct being worthwhile entering the second year of his tenure, but also the opportunities for players to "increase their value relative to their career" and celebrate the positives that arose during the season.
Asked again after Florida's 41-24 victory over Texas A&M on Saturday — pushing the team to within one game of eligibility — Napier sang a bit of a different tune, looking at the topic from more of a big-picture perspective.
"You know, I think it's — at the University of Florida, sure, it's great to go to a bowl," Napier suggested. "We've got bigger aspirations than that."
His players, in a way, agree. Cornerback Jaydon Hill considers making a bowl game "the standard" for Florida; guard O'Cyrus Torrence remarked that players "automatically assume they're going to have a championship and a bowl game."
But, typically, UF would be expected to contend beyond bowl games with sponsors you might have never heard of. SEC Championship and College Football Playoff hopes are usually on the mind instead.
That won't happen in 2022. Whether Florida fans expected that reality in the first year of Napier's rebuild or not, the program isn't ready to make that leap just yet.
Napier understands that and doesn't view a potential 13th game this season as a significant sign of progress. He's seen the evolution he wants to see during the regular season, in practice, and behind closed doors when it comes to personal development.
"I think the main thing that I'm probably most excited about is the progress we've made with those people," Napier explained on Saturday. "I mean, I could care less about anything but continuing that progress, that momentum, that brotherhood, those relationships. Because if you get that right, the football comes with it."
Napier has consistently acknowledged his goal of building a program at UF that emphasizes growth and maturation off the field. He's made similar points throughout the year — making progress in that respect will lead to success on the field. He specifically credited that "human element" in the Gators' triumph over the Aggies.
Should such an element lead to one more victory for Florida in 2022, the Gators will return to postseason play for the fifth year in a row.
Ultimately, while bowl eligibility would come with it, the Gators' goal isn't to secure an additional game this year — it's to win the ones left on the schedule.
"We just know that coach Napier just keeps saying we’re trying to win these last five," said defensive end Princely Umanmielen on Monday. "Coach Napier tells us, he says that the initial goal sometimes changes. Now, we started off the season trying to get somewhere, we still have a goal to win out."
Beating the Aggies on the road was a good and necessary start in accomplishing that new goal.
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