While others 'crown' the Gators, Napier aims to keep his team level

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — There’s still a buzz around Gainesville, or maybe that’s just eardrums ringing from a record crowd in the season opener. An afterthought in the offseason, the Florida Gators are now the talk of the town and college football following their 29-26 win over No. 7 Utah.

UF will assuredly be ranked when the Associated Press Top-25 is released on Tuesday, but the mission is far from over. During his Monday press conference, Billy Napier didn’t go full Nick Saban “rat poison” but made sure to note that his team is far from a finished product.

“The film is sloppy, just so we’re all on the same page,” Napier said. “I know we’re ready to put the crown on the Gators, but the Gators got a lot of work to do to play at our expectation and our standard.”

Napier took it a step further, saying the Gators were “very fortunate” to come out of Saturday with a win. A look at the box score would show how evenly the game was played.

The Gators outgained Utah, 451-446. They outrushed the Utes, 283-230, but Utah threw for more yards (216-168). First downs were 25-23 in favor of Utah. The only stat that matters: Florida scored three more points than Utah.

A win, even a sloppy one, can mask mistakes. Napier is intent on not allowing his team to lose sight of the work they put in to earn a win. Last week is over and it won’t help them beat Kentucky this Saturday.

Operate in Truth

The Gators will get a lot of attention this week. They’re the talk around campus and everyone is ready to congratulate them. That can go to anyone’s head.

“I talked to the team about Friday, you’ve got to operate in truth,” Napier said. “Operate in truth, tell the truth. I think sometimes we hear the things we want to hear, and we don’t hear some of the things we need to hear.

“So just remaining objective, evaluate it for what exactly it is. I think sometimes we get consumed with the results. The reality is we need to always evaluate, win or lose, independent of the result. What does the film look like, and what can we do better?”

The result was great. The reality is Florida committed seven penalties. They fumbled the ball twice. Anthony Richardson, while exhilarating, can improve as a passer. The rush defense was gashed in the second half. These are all things Napier stressed to his team Sunday at practice and again Monday morning.

“We played winning football in a lot of areas on our team, but there’s some glaring areas where we need to get better,” he said. “It is what it is. You find a way to win.”

Keeping the Gators focused and hungry

Napier did credit his team, calling them self-aware. Florida has a 24-hour policy. The team was allowed to revel in the moment on Saturday and enjoy their accomplishments.

Practice on Sunday ended that, and it was time to get back to work on the SEC opener.

“You got to understand you can’t be complacent. You’ve got to understand that there’s room for improvement, and the biggest room in the world is the room for improvement,” Defensive lineman Tyreak Sapp said Monday. “You’ve got to take that for what it is and move on to the next week and have laser beam focus on the next team and get ready for your next opponent.”

That statement from a redshirt freshman who spent the 2021 season on the scout team is exactly what Napier is trying to instill. As Saturday showed, the Gators have a chance to be good. However, that won’t happen if they treat beating Utah as the highlight of their season.

“There’s a lot more work to put in,” Sapp said. “We need to understand we can be a lot better and there’s a lot of things we can improve on, and we’re going to keep improving on those during the week, day in and day out.”