Paul Finebaum: Week 13 vs. Florida State will be 'critical' for Billy Napier

Billy Napier and Florida have a critical game against Florida State to end the regular season, according to ESPN’s Paul Finebaum.

Sitting at 5-6, the Gators need a win over their rival to become bowl eligible and to cool off chatter about Napier’s future with the program. It’s only Year 2, but the folks in Gainesville want progress and they want it fast.

After nearly knocking off Missouri and still maintaining a solid recruiting class, there’s hope for Napier and Florida. But a win over the Seminoles might be necessary.

“Napier is one of the toughest calls,” Finebaum said on McElroy and Cubelic. “I like a lot of things about the program. But the next week is going to be critical to watch what happens off the field as well as what happens on Saturday night. 

“Can you hold on to this recruiting class? I think the trend line probably points a little more toward him staying, but this is one of those situations where Saturday night is going to answer so many things and if they have a similar type performance that we saw in Missouri, then I think the feeling of the administrators in the booths are walking out (saying) let’s roll the dice.”

Basically, Finebaum doesn’t want to see Florida make its coaching decision on Napier based on a win or loss against Florida State. For cohesion, Napier should be back, but 2024 is the make or break year for the Gators.

“We all know it’s a hot seat season in ‘24, but I think the real issue is you’ve got an athletic director down there who chose him and I think you face a lot of chaos if you suddenly decide we didn’t like what we saw Saturday,” Finebaum said. “And I’ll say one more thing that I’m sure I’ve heard both of you say, you should not determine a coach’s career on one game. That’s foolish. 

“Especially a game that’s really, yeah it’s important, it determines whether Florida gets to extra practices in a bowl game. But if you’re rolling the dice, waiting for him to win that game, you’ve already made your decision. You better be sticking with him because you like where the program is heading.”

Napier is just 11-13 through nearly two years as head coach. The Gators made it to the postseason in his first year, but just making a bowl game isn’t going to be enough for the university at a certain point.

Florida ends its season at home against Florida State Saturday at 7:00 p.m. ET.