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Billy Napier explains why Florida kicked PAT for OT instead of going for 2
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Billy Napier’s team came close to stealing a game on the road against a top-10 team in a rivalry showdown, but the “scared money don’t make money” coach opted to play for overtime and ultimately came up short.
Despite not allowing a point in the first half and leading for the majority of the game, Florida fell 23-17 to Tennessee in overtime Saturday night.
The Gators clung to a 10-0 lead for much of the game until the Vols rallied to claim a 17-10 lead behind the legs of Dylan Sampson in the 4th quarter. On top of that, Florida quarterback Graham Mertz left the game with an injury in the third quarter and did not return, putting blue-chip freshman DJ Lagway in the spotlight.
In a last-gasp effort, Lagway and the Gators faced a 3rd-and-18 deep in Tennessee territory with just under a minute to go. The first-year quarterback stepped up in the pocket and found Chimere Dike over the middle of the field for a score.
Florida head coach Billy Napier faced a decision at that point; to either tie the game with a PAT to play for overtime, or to roll the dice with a 2-point attempt.
Napier at first sent the offense out onto the field to try and utilize an unbalanced formation that appeared to take Tennessee off-guard. But, Josh Heupel burned a timeout before UF could snap the ball, and Napier sent the kicking unit out after that.
He provided his reasoning for doing so after the game:
“Well, we had the play that we felt good about,” Napier said after the game. “And then, obviously, they burned their timeout. I think we felt from the 3 (yard line) there, we were playing pretty good on both sides of our team at that point in time so we felt like, let’s play overtime. Let’s go give our guys a chance to play some more plays. I thought defensively, we kept ourselves in it. Wasn’t quite ready to do that at that point in time.”
The decision will likely be talked about amongst Gator fans for some time, as they could argue that on the road as an underdog, it’s best to take your chances to win. In the end, Florida now stands at 3-3 in a potential make-or-break year for Napier, and his Gators welcome Kentucky to The Swamp this week.
Current Missouri student entering my third year of covering Tiger football and basketball. Contributor to The Transfer Portal CFB and overall college athletics enthusiast.
