Billy Napier’s Florida Gators continue to fail in 1 key area, and it’s embarrassing

It’s past the point of unacceptable, and something has to be done.

Tyler Forness — NFL & College Football News Writer

Sep 13, 2025 11:09 PM EDT

Sep 6, 2025; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier talks with Florida Gators quarterback DJ Lagway (2) against the South Florida Bulls during the first quarter at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. — Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

When you look at the Florida Gators on paper, they look like a team that can compete for a national championship. Quarterback DJ Lagway looked like a Heisman Trophy candidate, the trenches on both sides have talent, and they have a wide receiver group with multiple players ready to emerge.

Despite all of the positives on the roster, the head coach is still Billy Napier. Going into Saturday’s game, Napier was 20-20 in his first 40 games, which is worse than the 22-12 that Jim McElwain was when the Gators fired him during his third season at the helm. Napier’s tenure is being treated differently, and it’s manifesting in the worst ways.

Florida Gators continue to have unacceptable discipline issues

In the first couple of years of building up your program, having some discipline issues on the field can happen. You aren’t just installing a culture; there are a lot of new things to the program, including communication and schemes, likely on both sides of the football.

However, seeing those issues going into year four is completely unacceptable.

It appeared that the Gators had gotten things taken care of after a zero penalty performance against the Long Island Sharks. It was a thorough domination and cohesive play from the offense and defense. That completely unraveled in Week 2 against South Florida with 11 penalties for 103 yards. The disappointing part about those penalties was that two of them ended up costing the Gators touchdowns. They lost by two points, 18-16, on a last-second field goal. Those lost points ended up being huge at the end of the game.

The frustration around Gainesville was palpable, including many calling for Napier to be replaced. It was obvious that Napier needed to find a way to pull out a win this week against LSU. That didn’t happen. In fact, the same discipline issues were one of the biggest reasons why the Gators couldn’t take a step forward and get the win, losing to the Tigers 20-10.

Early in the first quarter, the Gators had a touchdown when Lagway found a wide-open Jadan Baugh down the field after the Tigers busted a coverage to take the lead. Well, there was a weak holding penalty on Knijeah Harris that took it off the board. The Gators went three-and-out on the drive.

It’s brutal to continue seeing these mistakes happen, and Napier has been the one constant throughout. Is there anything Napier can do to fix this? Well, if there was, he’d likely have done it by now. It might be time for the administration to move on.