Florida coach Billy Napier stresses offensive improvement in second half of Las Vegas Bowl

The Florida Gators could not have struggled much more on offense than they did in the first half of the Las Vegas Bowl. Florida did not score any points in the game against the Oregon State Beavers and mustered just 93 yards as a team. Coming out of the halftime break, head coach Billy Napier stressed the importance of improved play on offense from his team.

“We should have some points,” Napier said on the ESPN broadcast. “I think we had a couple fringe red area possessions where we had some penalties. I think just settling in, running the operation right, getting comfortable with the play clock, communication, we can clean some things up. Certainly seeing a little bit more man-to-man than expected and we’ve got to do a job as coaches and help them out.”

Of course, the Gators are without Anthony Richardson, who opted out of the bowl game to prep for the NFL Draft after the regular season. Instead, Florida is playing Jack Miller, the former Ohio State transfer who has not seen game action since 2021. Miller, understandably, struggled in the first half.

Miller went just 6-of-11 for 68 yards in the air. Florida’s running game struggled as well, going for 25 yards between four ball carriers. Montrell Johnson Jr. leads the Gators with 13 yards on six carries.

On defense, Florida has done a decent job of keeping Oregon State contained. The Beavers scored just 10 points in the first half. It looked like it could be much worse than that but Florida blocked a field goal attempt as the first half clock expired, resulting in a 10-0 lead at the break.

“Huge play to end the half with the blocked field goal,” Napier said. “Ten-nothing, our guys are hanging in there, they’ve done a good job so far. We got to generate some points on offense.”

Florida is looking to get this bowl win to finish over .500 on the season. The Gators lost their final two games of the season to end 6-6 overall.