Florida Football: Gator fans aren’t happy, but they are realistic about 2023

Every preseason prognostication about Florida football has been negative. Las Vegas thinks the Gators will only win five games. The SEC Network thinks Florida will only win four games. Your friend that couldn’t even get accepted into FSU and has amnesia about their run from 2018 through 2021 probably thinks Florida will lose every game.

So now, after an entire offseason telling Gator fans how bad the team is going to be, prominent media people are wondering out loud why Florida fans aren’t more fired up about the 2023 season.

Florida Football: Flip flop

Admittedly, articles like this that simply exist to reply to other articles are low-hanging fruit. And while we here at Hail Florida Hail try our best not to engage in this type of clickbait drivel, a narrative surrounding the Florida Gators must be pointed out.

No one in the national media has had a single nice thing to say about the Gators this offseason. They have worked themselves into a tizzy that Graham Mertz is the worst quarterback in the SEC and Billy Napier should be on the hot seat in year two.

And for the record, Florida football hasn’t earned the right to have nice things said about it the last two seasons.

So enter Paul Finebaum into the conversation, who is perplexed that Florida fans aren’t more angry at Napier.

Appearing on the Matt Barrie Show, Finebaum said:

"““They act like he [Napier] inherited a program that had been shut down 25 years, while Mullen was in the SEC Championship Game before he got fired the next year. The standard at Florida used to be to win it all, so Napier has the advantage of dumbed down expectations.”"

Follow that up with an article plastered on the front page of 247 Sports boldly declaring that another seven-loss season won’t cut it in Gainesville.

Have your cake…

We have written here before that Napier isn’t immune from criticism this season, but why do you think that Florida fans have “dumbed down expectations” in 2023?

Is it possible that Florida ran off the previous guy because he openly admitted he gave up on the program?

And as a result of the last guy giving up on the program, Napier had to come in and clean up a much larger mess to achieve the ultimate standards that Florida fans want.

See, Finebaum isn’t wrong that the standard at Florida is ultimately a national championship. Urban Meyer said as much during the trailer for Swamp Kings. Dan Mullen was fired because it became apparent that he wasn’t the guy to bring Florida to the mountaintop.

But if you want an indication of how flawed roster was the last couple of seasons, take a peek at where the vast majority of guys who transferred out of the program wound up. Most of them did not go to a program that would be considered an upgrade.

And given the schedule Florida plays in 2023, going 7-5 or even 6-6 wouldn’t be the disaster that some seem to want Gator fans to believe it would be. If Florida swapped their schedule with Georgia, FSU, or Michigan, the Gators would go 9-3 or better in 2023.

Gator fans are willing to stick it out in 2023 for the sole fact that help is on the horizon. It doesn’t mean that by this time next year, we won’t have increased expectations on the field. The moment the upward momentum Napier is building from the ground up gets halted, and it becomes clear he’s not the guy, then he too will get fired.

But it is getting to the point where the national narrative feels like a five-year constantly poking and prodding, going “I’m not touching you I’m touching your shirt,” only to run to mommy when one opts to swing back.