The crazy thing about Florida's 29-21 win over Texas on Saturday is that it wasn't actually that unexpected. Vegas odds were continuing to shrink, and if one goes through Billy Napier's history with the Gators, he has had a win like this every year.
After the game, Napier admitted what Florida's biggest challenge is moving forward after collecting his annual big home win.
Can Florida put back-to-back weeks together?
Napier was asked how Florida would handle success moving forward after beating No. 9 Texas in The Swamp to move to 2-3 on the season:
"Yeah, I think the challenge will be how we handle this. I think it's going to be extremely important that we — you've got to wake up in the morning and wash all this off.
Same people that talk about you are going to be talking good about you, and can you handle that.
I think that's the challenge in sport is to be consistent, to be process-oriented, to be motivated by the right things and not have a letdown going forward."
We've seen this film play out before in the Billy Napier Era and it's been among his biggest flaws in Gainesville.
In 2022, the Gators beat Utah only to turn around and lose to Kentucky. They later beat Texas A&M and South Carolina, only to lose to Vanderbilt.
In 2023, Florida got a massive home win over Tennessee, only to look flat against UNC Charlotte and lose to Kentucky. They then had a dramatic win over South Carolina, only to lose their final five game.
And in 2024, Florida had a spirited game against Georgia, only to play the most non-competitive game of football ever against Texas, only to then beat LSU and Ole Miss, only to then look extremely flat against 2-10 FSU and a Tulane squad with multiple opt-outs.
Even here in 2025, we can't just magically forget how unprepared this team was on offense for the first four games of the season.
Billy Napier is now 7-3 as a home underdog in The Swamp.
The struggle is that he is 1-10 as a road underdog and 4-11 overall on the road.
Next week is on the road against Texas A&M, where Florida will probably be an underdog.
Will the script finally change, or are we just getting ready for a re-run?