Florida Football: Gators have chance to flip narrative this week vs Georgia

When the Florida Gators knocked off Utah in week one, it seemed like anything was possible this season. Georgia smack Oregon, but everyone else on Florida’s schedule looked vulnerable. Fast forward six games later, and it now seems like Florida football will be cutting it close to make a bowl game.

With their backs against the wall, and Vegas showing zero faith in Florida, Billy Napier and the Gators have a chance this week to flip the national narrative on its head and reclaim its spot at the national table.

Florida Football: Underdog against the Dawgs

Vegas released its initial line this weekend and it isn’t pretty for Florida. The Gators open as 22.5-point underdogs. Combined with the over-under of 56.5, Vegas foresees a final score of around 38-17 in favor of Georgia.

Should we expect Florida football to win this game? No, not at all. But the lack of faith shown in the Gators provides an opportunity for Napier to see who on his squad is willing to put up a fight when prospects look grim.

One of the reasons Dan Mullen was fired is that his guys stopped fighting. Some of those guys are still in the program and Napier is trying to cycle those guys out.

Take the quote he gave when asked about the increase in touches for running back Lorenzo Lingard. Napier said Lingard was rewarded for his effort in practice and parlayed that into his expectations for the entire team.

"Every day is competitive, these challenges are constant and certainly from a players’ standpoint we’re rewarding what we see in practice — from a playing time and role on the team, contribute to the team."

Likewise, there is mounting evidence that Napier and staff are growing impatient with starting safety Trey Dean and have been working Kamari Wilson in more.

The Gators may not be talented enough across the board to pull off a win in Jacksonville, but there is enough talent to cover a 22-point spread. But Napier alone playing the guys who are willing to put up a fight won’t be enough. He and Patrick Toney have to put his guys in a position to be able to fight in the first place.

Lining Jaydon Hill eight yards off the ball every play isn’t giving him a chance to fight. Running heavy sets with play-action that only sends two receivers deep isn’t giving Anthony Richardson a chance to fight. Leaving Ventrell Miller in on obvious passing situations when Amari Burney and Shemar James are the better pass covering linebackers isn’t giving guys a chance to fight.

With a potentially massive week ahead of recruiting with Cormani McClain announcing his commitment on Thursday and Desmond Ricks announcing he is now going to be in the class of 2023 (with his commitment still to come), a good showing against Georgia can put Florida in a great position heading into 2023.

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