Rece Davis, Pete Thamel believe Billy Napier firing is 'inevitable'
All eyes will be on Florida head coach Billy Napier this weekend as he heads into a seemingly must-win game in September on the road against Mississippi State. Looking to get back to a .500 record following a 1-2 start to the season and a 6-11 record versus SEC opponents since taking over the Gators.
There’s no question that Napier’s seat is hot in Gainseville, with plenty of conversation already circulating about who could be the next head coach at Florida. It’s a situation that college football insiders Pete Thamel and Rece Davis described as inevitable despite both believing the Gators will leave Starkville with a victory on Saturday.
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“I really feel like this is a great litmus test of how engaged that locker room is still with Billy Napier,” Thamel said on the College GameDay Podcast. “Florida is better and what we don’t know and haven’t seen is where they are right now after two home blowout losses in the torrents of negativity. No fan base goes negative like the Florida fan base, I really feel like it’s almost like a pro fan base in college sports.
“So there’s two ways you can go with that,” Thamel added. “One is the team endures and turtles, or they bounce back and go put on a performance on the road. Pound for pound, Florida is better. From what I have heard out of Gainesville this week, I think the response is here for Florida, I don’t feel like they will turtle.”
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Thamel believes Napier will avoid a situation faced by former Florida head caoch Ron Zook in 2004. Zook suffered a loss to the Bulldogs on the road and was fired immediately after in late October. While a surprising move at the time, midseason firings have been normalized amid the current college football landscape.
“I think it was 2022, we had five power conference coaches fired by October 2nd,” Thamel said. “So look, the Napier thing is inevitable. The whens and the hows, this could extend it and give them some hope and life, and give them a chance to get that program with some traction.”
Davis agrees with Thamel, also forecasting that Napier will get his first SEC win of the season this Saturday and that his days are already numbered as Florida’s head football coach.
“Pete, I agree,” Davis said. “I’ve been on record, while it appears that this is not going to work and that the change is inevitable, I remain steadfast. And I think Billy Napier is a solid football coach, it just hasn’t worked, happens sometimes. But I think it will work in Starkville this week.
“I think Florida will respond, I think it won’t be pretty. … This feels like a 27-20 type of game that I think Florida will win and show at least that he’s had the ability not to make them, or that they won’t quit on him.”
Napier and the Gators will look to respond to what’s been a rocky start to the season this Saturday, squaring off against Mississippi State at noon ET in a game airing on ESPN and streaming on Fubo.