Steve Spurrier says Billy Napier ‘called his best game’ against USC
Some might say Tennessee this season. Others may go with Utah last year. But for Steve Spurrier, the biggest win of the Billy Napier era happened on Saturday.
The Gators rallied from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit with two 75-yard touchdown drives for a 41-39 comeback victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks.
It snapped a five-game losing streak away from The Swamp under Napier and marked Florida’s first road win against an SEC East opponent since 2020.
“Biggest win for coach Billy Napier since he’s been here in two years. I think everybody agrees to that,” Spurrier said during his radio show on WRUF this week. “But what was really neat about it is that we had to score two touchdowns in the last five minutes or so. And even though our defense struggled, we got two stops at the end of the game and that’s all we needed to win the game.”
Spurrier not only called it Napier’s top win at UF so far, but his best game as a playcaller. The Gators scored their most points (41) and converted their most first downs (28) in SEC play this year, along with being one yard shy of their season high (495) vs. league teams, which was set vs. Vanderbilt.
Saturday also marked the second time Florida has eclipsed 40 points in a conference game under Napier. UF scored 41 on both occasions and they were his only road wins, Texas A&M and South Carolina.
Spurrier named Napier his Coach of the Week.
“I think Coach Napier called the best game since he’s been here,” Spurrier said. “And he had to. He had to because the other team was scoring a bunch of points. So, maybe that attitude may, ‘Well, let’s try that again.’ Let’s try to score 40 or 50.
“And if you don’t score 50, maybe you’ll score 35. That was always my philosophy. If we try to score 50 every week and we come a little short, that’s still pretty good.”
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Earlier this month on his radio show, Spurrier was asked if and how Napier can become more aggressive with his offensive scheme and the HBC suggested that the Gators “toss more deeper balls.”
Florida certainly took more shots against the Gamecocks. After attempting a total of nine passes over 20 yards in the previous five games, redshirt junior quarterback Graham Mertz threw a season-high 12 passes over 20 yards and finished with a career-high 423 yards and three touchdowns.
Spurrier was asked this week about his earlier comments and said that he always advises coaches to air it out.
“I tell everybody to throw deep,” Spurrier responded. “Somebody said I heard you suggested it. I said, ‘Well, yeah, I suggest almost everybody throw more deep passes.’ Tulsa, you know, my son coaches out there, I said every time you get a chance to chuck it 40 or 50 yards or so downfield, man, the percentages are with the passing team.
“Those defenders usually have their back turned and they’re just running around lost. The worst thing you’re going to get is incomplete, which is the same thing as running up the middle for no gain. But the more deep balls you throw, the more chances you got to hit the deep ball.”
