Billy Napier dug his own grave with Florida but refused to let the casket close

The Turnaround

The other common defense of Napier is that even as the season went south, the squad was still playing hard and had not given up like a certain squad to the west of Gainesville. If Florida stayed the course, the hope was that its big breakthrough moment would finally come.

Well, in back-to-back weekends in The Swamp, that breakthrough finally occurred. Front and center of it all was DJ Lagway, who we felt should have been the starter after the Samford game but was inserted full-time after Graham Mertz went down against Tennessee.

Lagway gives the entire Gator squad an undeniable feeling of hope, and that hope is on full display against LSU and Ole Miss. Even at 70% due to his hamstring, Lagway's ability to evade pressure greatly aided an offense line that still wasn't perfect but was doing just enough to give Lagway time.

Opposing defenses had to make a choice whether to respect the deep ball or not. And if they did opt to play deep, Florida's stable of running backs kept pounding away until they finally broke through in key moments.

And even during stretches where the offense was stalling out, the defense kept getting stops that seemed unimaginable after the first four games of the season. Florida's defense line looked like a turnstile when the season began, but ended the year with the 8th most sacks in the country.

If Florida can hit the transfer portal for a couple of wide receivers and make sure they have a solution at right tackle, there will be talent on the roster on offense in 2025 that rivals that of all the other playoff contenders.

Combine that with a defense that seems to have found its identity, and it's not insane to state that anything short of 10-2 in 2025 is going to feel like a disappointment, a statement we never dreamed of making a month ago.