Steve Spurrier doesn’t mince words when talking about Florida Gators loss vs. South Florida ‘That was a bad call’

The root cause is the biggest problem with the Gators

Tyler Forness — NFL & College Football News Writer
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Legendary Florida Gators head ball coach Steve Spurrier gets animated as he makes comments before a ribbon cutting to officially opening his new restaurant Spurrier's Gridiron Grille in Celebration Pointe, in Gainesville, Fla., Aug. 10, 2021. Brad McClenny/The Gainesville Sun
Brad McClenny/The Gainesville Sun

There were a multitude of reasons why the Florida Gators lost to the South Florida Bulls on Saturday afternoon. You can boil it down to head coach Billy Napier‘s clock management or poor play calling, but the biggest issue was the lack of discipline.

One week after the Gators committed a whopping zero penalties, they completely reversed course, committing 11 for 103 yards. There wasn’t any realistic expectation that the Gators would be perfect, but the excess penalties, paired with Brendan Bett getting ejected for spitting, and the discipline was completely gone.

Steve Spurrier highlights why Gators lost vs. Bulls

The lack of discipline bled into every aspect of the game for the Gators, and it was the main reason why they lost. Those discipline issues also cost the Gators two touchdowns, and the head ball coach Steve Spurrier highlighted that on the latest Another Dooley Noted Podcast.

“It was so disappointing, mainly because we played the first game with zero penalties, tied a school record,” said Spurrier about the Gators’ penalties. “I don’t know if we ever had a game I coached here in 12 years of zero penalties, so it looked like we were well disciplined. We knew how to play the game. And then all of a sudden, [the Gators] had 11 or 12, and took away some good plays and gave South Florida a chance to score.

“So the stupid penalty plays and this and the other probably as big a reason we lost the game rather than effort and all that, I thought we had pretty good effort by most of the players all the way around. Obviously, coaches can always look back, but we had two touchdowns taken away due to penalties, and one of them was holding. I think that was evident, but the other one was sort of, a lot of people has as a bad call, but maybe the guy could have called it, but usually, if you just jump into somebody, that’s not, but [he was running his route].”

One singular play didn’t cost the Gators on Saturday, but the penalties were a result of the root cause: a lack of discipline. That falls solely on Napier and the coaching staff. If they were to end up fixing two or three of those mistakes, they likely win, albeit a game that was closer than it should have been.

Is there going to be growth with the Gators’ performance? Only time will tell, but Spurrier is watching.

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