Urban Meyer accuses Florida State of quitting while defending Billy Napier

Former Florida and Ohio State coach Urban Meyer has been around a lot of high-level football. And the Gators might be inconsistent right now, but Meyer just witnessed the team play some high level football in a win over LSU.

It led him to praise Gators coach Billy Napier while also taking a dig at the former Florida rival he still refuses to call by name.

“I’m going to tell you something, I’m a fan of coach Napier, and here’s why,” Urban Meyer said on The Triple Option podcast. “I don’t know him, I met him once or twice. They’ve been obviously really struggling, but the one thing they have not done like the team in Tallahassee is quit. They have continued to fight.”

As far as barbs go, that’s a pretty brutal one from Meyer.

Florida State, of course, has struggled to a 1-9 start this season after going 13-0 and winning an ACC title prior to bowl season last year. Florida has had its own issues since then, sitting at just 5-5 with two games to play.

Still, Urban Meyer likes what he’s seeing out of the Gators right now.

“I hear comments made by their excellent quarterback DJ Lagway,” Meyer said. “I see things, I hear things obviously and I still know a lot of people down there. The Swamp was electric. I think Ole Miss is walking into a hornet’s nest here.”

Florida will host Ole Miss in a game that could drastically alter the perception of the program. Win and the conversation becomes about small but tangible improvement from Billy Napier and his squad. Bowl eligibility becomes assured.

The flip side is a 6-6 finish — or worse, 5-7 if Florida State can spring an upset at home on Senior Night — where the sales pitch must be rock solid.

That’s pretty high stakes for a game played by a currently .500 team. But this team isn’t the team that was smoked by Miami and Texas A&M earlier in the year, not to Urban Meyer.

“I think a team when you break the rock like that and you win a big game, which everybody’s been waiting for them to do, the one thing about Gainesville, Florida, now is you find a way to start winning, that place is a monster,” Urban Meyer said. “I think (it’s) the best home field; when they’re hot. When they’re not, it’s average like a lot of places.

“But when that place is cooking, and they’ll be cooking for Lane Kiffin and them, I don’t know if they’re good enough to beat Ole Miss, but I’m going to take Florida and the points. It started at 9.5, I believe it’s at 10 (now). I’m not sure, Vegas might know something. But I call for this to be a one-score game.”