Urban Meyer: Tennessee 'most important game' since Billy Napier's been at Florida

Florida will take on No. 11 Tennessee on Saturday at home, entering the game as about a seven-point underdog. The stakes are very high for coach Billy Napier and the Gators.

So high that former Florida coach Urban Meyer is issuing a warning of sorts as to the importance of this game.

“This is the most important game I think since he’s been at Florida,” Meyer said on Urban’s Take with Tim May.

Florida has yet to beat a rival under Billy Napier, having fallen to Florida State, Georgia, LSU and Tennessee so far. Getting a win over one of them is going to be a must sooner than later.

And Tennessee might just be Florida’s best shot to win a big one and salvage some momentum for the program.

“This is one of those games,” Meyer said. “Our first year we played Florida State at the end of the year and we were, I want to say, 7-3 and if we lose to Florida State you’re 7-4 and that doesn’t fly. And you lose momentum, and Florida State had Bobby Bowden and a great team. I think they were top 5 in the country, and we beat them 34-7 that day.

“And in the locker room, that’s when people started committing to us, the top recruits in the country. And one of my assistant coaches looked at me as we sat in the locker room afterwards and he said, ‘We needed that.’ That changed our program.”

Napier‘s doing a good job on the recruiting trail as is. He’s got the nation’s No. 3 class currently. But holding the class together through what could be a tough season might be a tall task.

That’s where every single win matters.

Meyer noted that the results on the field definitely correlate to stronger recruiting. And Florida hasn’t put up many results on the field so far that fans can point to as a real positive.

“So at some point the momentum’s got to flip,” Meyer said. “Because if they lose this game the fans will turn on you. The environment will be different. And the environment, it is important because of recruiting. All the sudden if I’m a top athlete and I come to Gainesville and there’s starting to be open seats, the fans are all over you, it’s not a positive experience.

“That impacts your current team, but that impacts recruiting. It really does. So this is Year 2, this is the most important game of his career at Florida.”