Billy Napier pulls a rabbit out of the hat and gets Florida its signature 2024 win

Coming off their blowout loss to Texas, there was minimal reason to have faith in Florida Football ahead of their matchup against LSU. Sure, oddsmakers only had the Tigers as a four-point favorite, but we kept wondering aloud how the defense that got gashed for 49 points was supposed to keep a lid on LSU.

But even with a completely lopsided time of possession in favor of LSU and constant trips into Florida territory, Billy Napier pulled his annual rabbit out of a hat to pick up his signature win of 2024 and keep Florida alive to at least make a bowl in 2024.

Florida Football: Flipped The Script

There are countless ways Florida could have lost this game. Within four minutes, Florida had committed five penalties. The first six LSU drives all made it to at least the LSU 45. DJ Lagway was 13/26. The time of possession was over double in favor of the Tigers.

But as we have said plenty of times for Florida, in the end, all that mattered was the final score.

Florida won this game because they were able to hit explosive plays while LSU couldn't. Every single long plodding Tiger drive had something go wrong to keep points off the board. Florida meanwhile said screw it and didn't try to rely on the typical long drives Napier usually loves.

And the center of it all was Lagway, who only completed 13 passes but achieved 226 yards with those completions.

That's an average of 17.3 yards per completion for those keeping track at home. He found Elijhah Badger for a 23-yard touchdown and found him again to get Florida down to the one.

But perhaps the biggest shock of all is that Florida finally closed out a game that was tied at the half. Far too often in the Billy Napier Era, we have seen the Gators go into halftime either with a lead or with a shot to win, only for the inevitable collapse to come.

But for one night, as Jadan Baugh galloped for 55 yards and Tyreak Sapp collected the 7th sack on the night, the Gators finally got a win in 2024 that has eluded them all year.

One win doesn't absolve Napier of a disappointing 2024 campaign, but it does demonstrate that there is enough talent on this roster that if Florida can stay out of their own way heading into 2025, there might just be more nights like this one in The Swamp.