Florida played its best game of the season against Georgia, and it's still over for Billy Napier

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Don’t put this on an injured quarterback. Don’t give Billy Napier that excuse.

What played out here at the World’s Largest Cocktail Party could’ve been just about any other week, in any of the three dysfunctional and discombobulated seasons under Napier.

This one just included a possible season-ending injury to Florida freshman quarterback DJ Lagway, the last hope to turn the mistake-filled train of misery.

But it’s over now. There’s no coming back from this.

Not from the 34-20 loss to Georgia, a game the No. 2-ranked team in the nation — the king of college football since 2021 — was begging to give away. Not from another loss full of coaching mistakes, including, yep, another special teams disaster.

Not from a bizarre and incomprehensible play call with the game on the line, not from a season now careening toward another ugly end.

Not because of Lagway’s untimely injury, and not because backup Aidan Warner was put in an untenable situation against the Boogeyman of college football.

“We had our team in position to win the game,” Napier said.

Until the Gators weren’t. Until the same confounding issues that have plagued Napier’s teams showed up again.

Look, this thing isn’t easy. With a healthy Lagway, Florida may have gotten its biggest win under Napier and the momentum could’ve taken the Gators to a big second half of the season — and Napier to 2025 and another season to figure it out.

But coaching college football is a brutal undertaking, one that ends in unemployment for nearly every coach. No matter how close you are to turning it around.

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At some point, a coach is evaluated on the totality of his tenure, not a game of what-if, or what could’ve been if this player or that player (or a handful of defensive backs) didn’t get hurt. There’s nothing fair about coaching football when you’re making $8 million annually to do so.

It’s over for Napier at Florida because by the time this season wraps later this month, Florida will have played a brutal stretch of games against Texas, LSU and Ole Miss with a third-string, walk-on quarterback. Even if the Gators beat a pitiful Florida State team, that would make Napier 16-21 in three seasons in Gainesville.

It’s over now because in big time college football, you’re either doing everything you can to get better, or you’re accepting your losing fate.

The Gators have lost 18 of 33 games under Napier, and a majority of the previous 17 losses were with a quarterback who was a top-five pick in the NFL draft (Anthony Richardson), and a quarterback who had a career season (Graham Mertz). Don't allow that Lagway excuse.

Florida is now 1-10 in rivalry games (Georgia, Florida State, Tennessee), and 2-13 vs. ranked teams under Napier. If this game weren't a big enough kick in the gut, consider the Tennessee debacle last month.

At the end of the first half, Florida had a field goal negated when it was penalized for too many players on the field. Those three points were the difference in a game the Gators eventually lost in overtime.

Mike Leach used to have a sign hanging in his office everywhere he coached, positioned perfectly so every assistant coach could see it every time they walked into the room.

You’re either coaching it, or you’re allowing it.      

This is where we are with the Florida administration. You’re either expecting excellence, or you’re allowing mediocrity.

You're either demanding more, or you're accepting a fourth straight losing season for the first time since the 1940s.

You’re either expecting your head coach — whose offense had a clear advantage running the ball against Georgia, and was wearing down the Bulldogs’ defense — to run the ball, or you’re allowing him to put the game in the hands of Warner with four minutes to play and trailing by seven.

The play call, on the first play of the drive: a naked bootleg.

The result: an interception.

This is much more than a poor play call. Any coach in that situation, whose team has successfully run the ball against eight- and nine-man boxes all game long, simply can’t put the game in the hands of a walk-on quarterback. It’s coaching malpractice.

It’s not fair to the Warner, who transferred from Yale and just this week started taking meaningful practice snaps, and was staring down the barrel at Georgia rush ends Jalon Walker and Mykel Williams — and told to make a play at the biggest point in the game.

It’s not fair to a defense that got three interceptions from Georgia quarterback Carson Beck, and consistently got off the field on third down. It’s not fair to an offensive line — finally developing some consistency over the last month of the season and dominating the line of scrimmage — to take the game out of their hands.

It’s not fair to running backs Jacobi Jackson and Jaden Baugh, who combined to rush for 138 yards on 29 carries (4.8 yards per carry) while running hard against those eight- and nine-man boxes.

There’s nothing fair about coaching college football. You either win, or you’re eventually fired. No matter how you parse it.

“For the first time since I've been the head coach here we showed up and we believed we could beat that team,” Napier said.

You either expecting excellence, or accepting mediocrity.

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Florida's Billy Napier nears end after Georgia loss