We are officially midway through the 2025 campaign for Florida Football, and we have also officially moved away from "Spot the ball." The mantra that Billy Napier boldly declared in July in response to the daunting schedule the Gators had to face has been replaced by meek responses and excuses as to why Florida continues to struggle on the road.
Like most Napier mantras, "Spot the ball" was a facade to begin with.
Billy Napier doesn't travel well
At his press conference on Monday, Napier was asked about his struggles on the road:
"I don't know what the numbers are, but in general, the home team has the advantage. It's a real thing. No different than Texas coming in here two weeks ago."
He was later asked about the fact that he is now 0-14 against ranked opponents in games not played at The Swamp (which includes neutral site games):
"They're ranked teams and they're tough venues, and when we are in position to make plays, we got to go make plays. Let's don't overanalyze this."
You know what, we're not even going to do the deep breaths bit, because it's just beyond parody at this point.
How did we go from "Spot the ball" to "The home team has a real advantage"?
The entire point of the "Spot the ball" tweet was that it was in response to the difficult slate of games Florida just faced, which included three of the four games being on the road.
But now that Napier's road woes have continued, and now that he is 21-23 as head coach of the Gators, the excuse is that Florida has had to play at "tough venues."
So, question then:
If being the home team is worth a touchdown, does that mean USF really won 18-9? Did Miami last year win 41-10? Did Arkansas win two years ago 39-29? Did Texas A&M, FSU, Kentucky, LSU...
You get the idea.
It does take a hardened mindset in order to win on the road, one Florida has never shown.
And it's why "Spot the ball" was never an actual mantra anyone believed in.