This week, the Florida Gators are traveling to College Station to take on No. 5 Texas A&M. Coming off the huge win over Texas, the Gators are still listed as a touchdown underdog against the Aggies.
There are plenty of reasons to have doubt whether or not Billy Napier can pull a rabbit out of a hat for the second straight week, and yet ironically it's College Station that holds the distinction of one of Napier's lone rabbits.
Florida looks for two wins in a row
As we have pointed out a couple of times this week, beating Texas at home wasn't as much of a seismic shock as one would expect. The Gators are now 7-3 as a home underdog in the Billy Napier Era.
The bigger problem for Napier has been his ability to take his show on the road.
The Gators are just 1-10 as road underdogs under Napier and 4-11 overall on the road.
But coincidentally enough, the lone road win Billy Napier has as an underdog since arriving in Gainesville is at College Station in 2022. Florida entered that game as 3.5 point underdogs, but an explosive 2nd half led to the Gators winning 41-24 after trailing at halftime 24-20. In that game, Florida tamed QB Haynes King, who has since transferred to Georgia Tech.
Jimbo Fisher also coached the Aggies at the time. He has since been shown the door and has been replaced by Mike Elko, who is 9-2 at home since arriving in 2024.
What is fascinating about Napier's struggles on the road is that he didn't have this problem to this degree when he was at Louisiana. All four years he was with the Ragin' Cajuns, he pulled off at least one win a year as a road underdog.
But as has been the case in a lot of areas in the Billy Napier Era, the SEC is not the Sun Belt and the environments are just a wee bit tougher.
If Napier can win in College Station again, the possibility of turning the ship around will be a reality.
If Napier does what he has done at every other road site, then his hot-seat talk will have been a one-week reprieve.