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Billy Napier's backpedaling on the 2-point try backfires in OT loss

On3 imageby:Zach Abolverdi•10/13/24•

ZachAbolverdi

Billy-Napier-Florida-Gators
Florida head coach Billy Napier, center, during a SEC conference game between Tennessee and Florida in Neyland Stadium. (Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel)

Florida Gators coach Billy Napier would likely take back a handful of plays and decisions that proved pivotal on Saturday night in the 23-17 overtime loss at Tennessee.

His two short-yardage calls with Eugene Wilson III (turnover on downs) and Graham Mertz (fumble at the 1) and his game management at end of the first half stick out.

However, flip-flopping after Florida’s touchdown late in the fourth quarter might be Napier’s most regrettable move from a game that his team had no business losing.

Despite squandering several red-zone trips, blowing a second-half lead and stalling repeatedly on offense after losing Graham Mertz and Montrell Johnson Jr., UF still had a chance to win in the end.

Trailing 17-10 with 2:31 left in regulation, quarterback DJ Lagway regrouped on Florida’s final drive and threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Chimere Dike on third-and-19 to make it a one-point game.

But instead of sending the PAT unit to tie it up, Napier kept his offense on the field to go for two — and the go-ahead score — with 34 seconds left to play. And he even dialed up a trick play formation.

After showing a regular look, all of UF’s linemen ran out wide with running back Ja’Kobi Jackson, tight end Hayden Hansen lined up at center with Lagway in the shotgun and three receivers to his right.

Timeout Tennessee.

Call it cold feet, pump faking or indecisiveness, but for whatever reason, Napier changed his mind during the commercial break and sent out kicker Trey Smack for the game-tying extra point.

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After the game, the first question asked was about him reversing course during that sequence.

“We had a play that we felt good about and then obviously they burned their timeout, and I think we felt from the 3 there we were playing pretty good on both sides of our team at that point in time,” Napier said.

“So, we thought, ‘Let’s go play overtime. Let’s go give our guys a chance to play some more plays.’ Defensively, we kept ourselves in it. Wasn’t quite ready to do that at that point in time.”

Bad move.

Instead of going for the win, Florida played for overtime and it backfired. Smack missed a 47-yard attempt, although it was inconsequential because the Vols scored a game-winning touchdown five plays later.

And it’s true that UF’s defense was playing well before the game-tying drive, forcing back-to-back three-and-outs, but the offense’s previous three possessions in the fourth quarter netted just 4 total yards in 10 plays.

With a true freshman quarterback on the road — and on the ropes — as underdogs against the nation’s No. 8 team, why not capitalize on the momentum from Lagway’s TD pass and try to end the game then and there?

If Tennessee coach Josh Heupel is willing to go for it on fourth-and-1 from his own 10-yard line, Napier should have stuck to his guns and ran the trick play — or any two-point play. Scared money don’t make money.

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