Florida Football: Special teams takes one step forward, one step back

We have written at length the problems that special teams are causing Florida football in 2023. Billy Napier’s insistence on employing an off-field analyst to handle special teams rather than an on-field coach continues to create head-scratching moments during plays that should otherwise be stress-free.

Last night, Florida seemed to solve one of its glaring weaknesses while continuing to create moments that would be funny if they weren’t so sad.

Florida Football: 10, 10 players on the field. Ah, ah, ah…

Let’s start with the positive from last night: Trey Smack took over the field goal-kicking duties and went 5/5 on field goals. His highlight was the 54-yard field goal he hit in the second quarter, cementing himself as the kicker with the big leg and presumably the kicker for Florida football moving forward in 2023.

Jeremy Crawshaw had two punts, one for 51 yards and one for 47 yards. Both punts landed inside the 20, and no touchbacks.

That is a step forward for this unit and should ease the concerns of this unit.

But then the step backward happened.

On Florida’s first two punt returns, the Gators were called for penalties, one of which negated a big return from Ricky Pearsall. That continues a theme we saw last season.

The more egregious error happened during UNC Charlotte’s third-quarter field goal attempt.

The kick was missed, and Florida got the ball back. For most people watching casually, it is a moment they probably didn’t notice.

Once again, Florida didn’t send 11 guys out to block a field goal. If this was a one-off occurrence, we could write it off as insignificant. But this kind of thing keeps happening with this unit, and for someone as detail-oriented as Billy Napier claims to be, it is baffling that this keeps happening.

We can guarantee you that Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia, and the rest of Florida’s schedule are taking notice and will work on some fake field goal plays to run if Florida only runs out 10 guys.

At some point, Napier has to pinpoint the culprit. Chris Couch is the easy target, but one would have to do a deep dive on whether it’s a Couch issue or the fact that he is limited in what he is allowed to do since he is considered an analyst.