We here at Hail Florida Hail have not been shy in our criticism of the Billy Napier Era. Florida Football fans have been constantly fed a narrative of "Trust the process" while there has been minimal to zero empirical data on how the process was going to work.
We stated last week that while beating LSU was nice, we have seen too many times in the Napier Era where Florida would get a big win and follow it up the following week with a dud.
For the first time, Billy Napier has a proof of concept he can finally sell Gator fans after beating Ole Miss 24-17.
Florida Football: All aboard
There are plenty of things we can critique specifically about Napier from the game, like botching the sequence at the end of the first half or gifting Ole Miss with a time-out of their final drive, but on a day like today, we know it's not the time for that.
Like last week, Florida's defense was put on its heels and it looked like Ole Miss could have scored 34+ points if they wanted to. But time and time again, the Gators kept coming up with key third and fourth down stops to slow down Ole Miss in a way few have done all season.
For as much as the headlines will be about DJ Lagway and the willpower he has brought to this team, Caleb Banks deserves game MVP honors. For as maligned as the defensive line at the start of the season, Banks showed up for 2.5 sacks This is after coming into the game with two sacks all season.
Tyreak Sapp chipped in for 1.5 sacks, while Bryce Thornton had two interceptions, the second of which sealed the day for the Gators.
Florida's offense was anemic in the third quarter, and it felt like Ole Miss was going to break away at any moment, but that moment never came. Combined with some Lagway magic in the first half and Montrell Johnson going for over 100 yards on senior day, and Napier now gives Gator fans something we haven't had since he arrived in Gainesville.
Hope.
Beat FSU next and ball out in a bowl game and somehow, someway the Gators have a real pathway to go 8-5 on the season with at least the feeling of wind at their sails heading into 2025.
Whether that wind is for real or a mirage will be the topic of plenty of pieces in the offseason, but for now, we here at Hail Florida Hail will give Napier credit for finally piecing together back-to-back wins Gator Nation can be proud of.