Billy Napier on Florida's challenging schedule: 'It's literally one week at a time'

It’s well-known how difficult the upcoming season looks for Florida based on their dozen opponents on the schedule. However, Billy Napier knows it’s a new year for everyone rather than just for his Gators.

Napier addressed the challenges of his team’s upcoming slate during his time at the podium last week at SEC Media Days in Dallas. As he explained, much of the opinion on their schedule has to do with what those teams have been or were a year ago. With that said, none of those teams, including Florida, are necessarily going to be the same in 2024 as they were in 2023 or beforehand.

“Yeah, I think a little bit of that is -look, we’ve got a different team. I mean I think we have 35 new players. Every team in our league, about 25 to 30% of their roster is new,” Napier noted. “So I think some of these teams that we play aren’t the same teams that they had last year. And we certainly are not the same team that we had last year.”

“College football, more than any time in our game, has become one year at a time,” said Napier. “I think you start a process in January, you build momentum to the fall, and you do the best you can.”

Still, while Napier’s thinking is right, there’s no denying the toughness of Florida’s opponents. They will play three in-state rivals in Miami, UCF, and at Florida State in their nonconference. They’ll then play a conference schedule that features Texas A&M, at Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, at Texas, LSU, and Ole Miss. That’s not to mention the final seven-game stretch starting on October 12th. From there, they’ll face the Volunteers, Wildcats, Bulldogs, Longhorns, Tigers, Rebels, and Seminoles all in a row.

Almost no team, if any, has that many top-notch teams on their schedule coming in. Still, as Napier put it, there’s just nothing the Gators can do but just take it game by game. Only on that basis will they know how prepared they are for each matchup.

“I think ultimately, again, it goes back to what I mentioned earlier. As cliché as it sounds, it’s literally one week at a time,” Napier said. “Learning how to have the self-discipline to prepare the same way, the same level of focus, same detail, same urgency, and get in position to where you can execute and do your job for the team.”

There’s no questioning the pressure on this season down in The Swamp, even against this loaded schedule. Even so, Napier has no questions about his team going in with what he has seen in their preparation in the offseason before this fall.

“I’ve got confidence in our team because I’ve been observing the work,” Napier said.