Miami admits they easily predicted Florida Football's offense

In the wake of Florida Football's loss to Miami on Saturday, one of the core frustrations from fans was that nothing on offense looked like it had changed from the previous two seasons under Billy Napier. The counterargument is always along the lines of "Yeah, but what do fans living in their basements actually know?"

Alright, fine.

But if you don't want to listen to fans who think Florida's offense looked the same as it always has on Saturday, take it from the defensive coordinator who shut the Gators down.

Florida Football: Ask Madden

Miami defensive coordinator Lance Guidry talked to reporters this week in the aftermath of their win over the Gators and was asked about how prepared he felt his group was on Saturday.

"We took their top five to seven plays that showed up in every game last year: a reverse, crossing routes, tailback screens—and I'll be danged if in the first four or five plays those things showed up"

If you are nodding along right now, going, "Yup, that's Florida's offense," it's emblematic of Napier's core problem when he insists on being the offensive coordinator.

He has constantly stated that calling plays is one of his favorite things to do, and he claims it helps him stay more connected to the game. That's fair, but he also has to justify why he is worthy of that duty.

One of the claims over the past two years is that the defense has cost Florida games more often than the offense, and there is truth to that, but we can't pretend that Florida has had an elite offense under Napier.

We highlighted back in April that in 2022, Florida was 57th in points scored despite an offense that wound up having a QB drafted in the top five (Anthony Richardson), two wide receivers also get drafted (Ricky Pearsall and Justin Shorter), two running backs who will probably get drafted (Montrell Johnson and Trevor Etienne) and three offensive linemen who are on NFL rosters in some capacity (O'Cyrus Torrence, Richard Gouraige, and Kingsley Eguakun).

Metrics last year were not much different across the board, and even though the defense has cost Florida games during the Napier Era, we shouldn't ignore the 2022 performances against Kentucky, Missouri, or Vanderbilt. Nor should we ignore the 2023 offensive performances against Utah, Kentucky, and FSU.

Fans were begging Napier to hire an offensive coordinator, but he kept betting on himself.

We said in a piece back in April that:

"It's a gamble for sure (to still be OC) as he enters a season when goodwill is waning in Gainesville. One way or another, Napier has to win this season, or his time with Florida will be over.

Billy Napier is betting on himself in 2024. Sometimes, a risky bet can lead to a lifetime of riches. Other times, it can leave one destitute.

And no matter what happens, Napier is either going to have plenty of material for Old Takes Exposed, or he will be remembered as the guy who wouldn't take advice from others because he thought he knew best."

Miami knew best on Saturday. They knew everything that was coming even when Napier had nine months to do litteraly anything different.

The fans see it too, and it's just one more reason why Napier's seat is at risk of being pulled out from under him.