You can add Paul Finebaum to the growing list of people that believe it's only a matter of time before Billy Napier is the former head coach of the Florida Gators.
Finebaum was a guest on McElroy and Cubelic in the morning and said that Napier continues to have the same on-field problems week to week and fans are ready for some big changes in the Gator football program.
"He blew it...he only had so much room for error with the toughest schedule in the SEC, and now he's completely thrown a game away." @finebaum on @GatorsFB head coach Billy Napier after their loss to @USFFootball over the weekend https://t.co/jcfX4E1IE9 pic.twitter.com/y1zW7gFgKD
— McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning (@macandcube) September 8, 2025
"He completely blew it. This is the same problem we've been seeing from Napier in terms of game management from the beginning," Finebaum said. "At this point, there's no reason for optimism." You just can't keep playing with fans' emotions. You have to take control of your program, and he clearly has not."
With that said, Finebaum added that Napier looks like a coach that will soon be out of a job.
"I think the end is near for Billy Napier. I'm not suggesting anything. I don't have any more control over that program than my dog sitting here next to me," Finebaum continued. "He only had so much room for effort anyway, with the toughest schedule in the SEC, and now he's completely thrown a game away."
Difficult schedule keeps playoff hopes alive
Finebaum isn't wrong, the Gators gave a game away Saturday. But they still have opportunities to flip the script with road wins against LSU and Miami. Back-to-back road wins against top-five ranked teams is exactly what Florida would need to make people forget that USF loss. Also, remember there's a darn good chance USF could be the G5 representative for the playoffs,
The downside is that the schedule is such a gauntlet it's hard to expect Florida, or any team in college football, to be able to win out by facing that many top 25 teams over consecutive weeks. Going into the season, I felt like Florida could lose three games and still have a good chance at the playoffs depending on how competitive the Gators were in those losses.
Now it just feels like the Gators have their backs against the wall and will have to come out swinging for the next several weeks to be taken seriously again.