Billy Napier looking for his first SEC win & victory over Eli Drinkwitz

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Florida Gators enter Saturday’s homecoming game against Missouri looking to snap a six-game losing streak in SEC play dating back to last season.

First-year UF coach Billy Napier is also going for his first win over Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz. There’s some history between the former Sun Belt coaches.

After a 7-7 record in his first year at Louisiana, Napier only lost to four programs during his final three seasons. Openers in 2019 and 2021 against Mississippi State and Texas, respectively, a 30-27 loss in 2020 to Coastal Carolina, a top-15 team that year.

The other one?

“Fantastic program, Appalachian State,” said Napier, who lost twice to the Mountaineers in 2019. “They had an unbelievable veteran team there; quarterback was a veteran player. They had a handful of NFL players on that team.”

Drinkwitz led App State to a 12-1 mark in his lone season at the helm before getting hired by Missouri. His 2019 team defeated Napier’s Ragin’ Cajuns in Lafayette and won the rematch in the Sun Belt Championship Game.

“That seems like a long time ago,” Napier said. “Certainly Eliah did a good job leading that program that year that he was there.”

Now the two coaches are leading programs in the SEC East. Drinkwitz has beaten every team in the division except Georgia, which he almost defeated last week.

His overtime win over Florida last season ousted former coach Dan Mullen, who was fired the following day and replaced by Napier after his 40-12 run at UL.

“I think Eliah does a fantastic job on offense. They’ve got an identity. They’ve got a set of concepts that they really believe in from a run perspective. They’re committed to that. They do a good job with the play-action shots. They have a good perimeter game and drop-back game to go with that,” Napier said. “Always had success moving the ball, if you really dig into his history. Creative, really good play-caller, a good game planner, for sure.”

Drinkwitz on Billy Napier, Gators

Drinkwitz and Napier both call the plays on offense, and the Gators have been humming in the past two games. After gaining 594 yards in a loss at Tennessee, including 453 passing yards by Anthony Richardson, Florida finished the blowout win over EWU with 666 yards, which is tied for the seventh-highest yardage total in team history.

“Offensively, it starts with the quarterback, Anthony Richardson. Very talented quarterback that can run and throw. He’s got great command of what coach Napier is trying to do offensively,” Drinkwitz said. “Coach Napier is a very good football coach and knows exactly how he’s building his team each week and what they’re trying to do offensively to win. And they put their quarterback in the right situation. They’re very big and physical up front with their offensive line. They’ve got a tremendously talented running back room. So, it’ll be a very difficult challenge.”

The Tigers are led at quarterback by Brady Cook, who’s thrown for 997 yards through five games with five touchdowns and four interceptions. Mizzou wideout Dominic Lovett leads the SEC in receptions (27) and receiving yards (460 yards).

Defensively, Missouri’s top player is former Florida linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper. He leads the Tigers with 33 tackles and 8.0 tackles-for-loss, which ranks second in the SEC.

“He’s not going to treat it like another game,” Drinkwitz said of Hopper facing his old team. “I definitely have to talk to him about keeping his composure. I mean, those are his former teammates. And I know he’s got a mutual respect. I think he was roommates with Brenton Cox Jr.

“I know he knows a lot of those guys, and I don’t know that there was any bad blood or any ill will towards any of them at all. So, I think it’d be fun to compete against them. But we gotta make sure we keep our emotions in check.”

Cox is one of three Florida defenders that Drinkwitz named among the best players his team has faced so far this year.

“Brenton Cox Jr. stands out to me. He’s probably the most disruptive defensive player we faced all season,” he said. “They returned Ventrell Miller, who was injured last year at linebacker. I think he’s the best linebacker we’ve played all year. They’ve got massive size up front on the defensive line, and their back end is experienced with the two safeties that have played a lot of football and Jason Marshall Jr. at corner is as good a corner as we played. So, defensively they are very good. Their defensive coordinator does an outstanding job of mixing coverages, pressures, formation adjustments, not giving you the same picture.”

Florida’s secondary, which has safety Trey Dean III back in the starting lineup, will need to keep Lovett in check Saturday. A victory over Drinkwitz and the Tigers will give Napier his first SEC win and end the Gators’ skid in conference play.

“We can’t go 0-3 in the SEC. That’s like bottom of the barrel,” UF cornerback Jaydon Hill said. “So, we gotta step it up and win.”