A potential nightmare turns into a dream Saturday for Florida, Billy Napier

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The fear was real. 

Midnight approaching. We Are The Boys of Old Florida and I Won’t Back Down played. Then, nothing. UCF fans partying in a near-empty Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

That was the nightmare scenario, and it seemed utterly possible after Texas A&M pounded Florida in this stadium three weeks earlier.

The reality on Saturday night? As Tom Petty’s anthem cranked a few days past the seventh anniversary of his passing, a full house clicked the lights on their phones and held them aloft. They sang at the top of their lungs, and then they stayed to help the defense sack UCF quarterback KJ Jefferson again. And then again.

For the first time in a long time, Florida football looked — dare we say it — fun.

Fun for the players. Fun for the coaches. Fun for the fans who had resigned themselves to mediocrity but still showed up in force and created a cauldron of noise.

A 24-13 win against a predictable, unimaginative UCF team may not change the ultimate result of this season, but it served as a reminder of why those fans keep coming back. When The Swamp is rocking, there is no more magical place in college football.

The Gators needed this. “This group — let’s call it like it is — they’ve been beat up a little bit,” Florida coach Billy Napier said on his Thursday night radio show, shortly before he said how excited he was to bring this team on the field again. It sounded at the time as if Napier was putting a brave face on a situation that had deteriorated beyond repair, but perhaps he actually meant it.  

This felt like the reprieve it was. Sure, Florida beat Mississippi State in Starkville. But so had Toledo the week before. The visit from UCF filled an entire town with existential dread. Lose that game, and the consequences were … well, they’re probably the consequences that will happen at some point this season anyway. But they’d be more embarrassing because the inciting incident would have been a loss to an in-state school that for most of its existence produced no stress for the Gators.

This win doesn’t save Florida coach Billy Napier. The donor faucet turned off after the Miami loss and the Texas A&M loss removed any remaining doubt. Only a miracle — at least three but probably more wins against Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Texas, LSU, Ole Miss and Florida State — might give Napier a crack at a fourth season coaching the Gators. 

But on a day when Vanderbilt can beat Alabama, perhaps Napier should dream of a future that doesn’t include a buyout. Of course, the fact that we’re using Vanderbilt as a positive comparison for Florida explains precisely how Napier found himself in this mess to begin with.

There was a moment shortly before halftime that could have devolved into disaster. Florida made a stop and UCF punted, but the Gators were called for running into the kicker. Napier went bananas on the sideline — it was the most fire he’s shown since he got the job — and got flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. Across the stadium, you could hear 90,000 sets of eyes roll. But the drive ended six plays later with Jefferson sacked by Justus Boone and George Gumbs on fourth down. Sometimes, it’s your night.

So enough negativity. There has been plenty of that, and the odds suggest there will be time for more. Saturday was a night to remember what it feels like when the calls work. Senior quarterback Graham Mertz strung together touchdown drives. Freshman quarterback D.J. Lagway threw a laser-guided ball over the middle to set up another score. Florida’s defense stuffed UCF on fourth down on the Knights’ second possession, a service break that allowed the Gators to go up 11 and command the tempo the remainder of the night. 

Florida’s defense, which got battered on the ground in a tone-setting first half against Texas A&M, allowed only 29 first-half yards on 18 carries to an offense ostensibly built to grind out 300-yard rushing games against teams like the Gators. When UCF finally did find success running the ball at the start of the second half, it took the Knights 14 plays and 8 minutes, 28 seconds to score a measly three points. Florida’s lead was safe. Napier was safe for at least one more week. 

The third quarter ended. They swayed to We Are The Boys. They screamed along with Tom Petty. 

And when it ended, there was no nightmare scenario. There were no partying UCF fans. Just some diehards in orange and blue chanting “It’s great to be a Florida Gator.”

For at least one more week.