Florida Football fans are not interested in a moral victory against Georgia

One of the hallmarks of the Billy Napier Era during his time with Florida Football is how he always feels one play away from springing a huge victory but seldom can find that one play. An argument could be made there are at least seven or eight games where a single play kept Florida from winning.

The problem is Napier has used up the bulk of his "Close but no cigar" games, and even as a double-digit underdog against Georgia, the only outcome to make Gator Nation happy is to win.

Florida Football: Zero Sum Game

As we have pointed out this week, Napier is 0-6 at Florida when listed as a double-digit underdog. He's had moments where he was close, including last year at Missouri and this year at Tennessee, but the end result is a 15-17 record since arriving in Gainesville.

The problem for Napier when trying to advocate for more time to get things turned around is when Gator fans take a peek at the coach on the opposite sideline this Saturday. Since arriving in Athens, Kirby Smart is 100-17.

I'm no math expert, but it is not a great look for Napier to have as many losses in two and a half years as Smart has in eight and a half.

In his third season, Napier is fighting to save his job. Smart had already played in the national title game and fell seven points short in the SEC title game from going back to the playoffs in his third season.

Napier has beaten three teams total who finished the season with a winning record. Smart had beaten ten ranked opponents by the end of his third season.

We can keep drawing parallels, but you get the idea.

Three Steps Back

A moral victory does Napier zero good this Saturday. He needs an actual victory.

Dan Mullen had an actual victory against Georgia and a seven-point loss and was still fired.

Georgia is the number two team in the country and is a tough task for anyone to beat. Still, the entire point of bringing Napier in was to take a step forward and beat teams like Georgia with greater consistency, not take three permanent steps back and expect props if you lose by 10.

A moral victory on Saturday would drop Napier's actual record to 15-18 and would still leave his best "upset" as being 5.5-point underdogs to Tennessee last season.

A moral victory won't salvage his crumbling recruiting class.

A moral victory would make him just the 2nd Florida head coach since 1990 to lose three straight to Georgia.

May the odds forever be in Florida's favor.