For Florida fans rooting for change, beating top-10 Texas had to feel like a bittersweet pill to swallow
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GAINESVILLE — “The Bummer Bowl” felt like a harsh, but fair title for Saturday in The Swamp.
In August, Arch Manning and DJ Lagway were considered among the top quarterbacks in the sport heading into 2025. At the time, it wasn’t crazy to think that their Week 6 showdown in Gainesville could have major Heisman Trophy ramifications, or at the very least, it could be a battle of All-SEC guys.
On the first day of October, ESPN ranked every Power Conference quarterback based on how they played in the first month of the season, and neither Manning (No. 41) nor Lagway (No. 61) cracked the top 40. It was hard to argue with that. Manning’s mechanical shortcomings led to 3.6 yards/attempt on throws between 0-9 yards while Lagway’s 1 completion on a pass 20 yards beyond the line of scrimmage told the story for his rough first month.
Was it fair to call their early-October meeting bummer after an offseason of buildup? You bet. Was it fair to point out the fact that visiting Texas had an underwhelming start after its first Associated Press preseason No. 1 ranking in program history? Definitely. And was it also fair to mention that at 1-3 with a loss to South Florida 4 weeks earlier, Florida‘s Playoff chances ended before October? Of course.
But the real Bummer Bowl played out in bittersweet fashion for the home Gators as they earned a win against No. 9 Texas.
It wasn’t watching a hobbled Lagway favor his ankle with seemingly every big-time throw he made. It was the reality that surfaced before, during and after a statement win.
Those are the types of wins that can keep coaches employed
For the anti-Billy Napier crowd, that’s as bittersweet of a victory as one could’ve had.
To be clear, winning is fun. Fans should celebrate that. Beating a Manning in The Swamp is always fun for Florida fans. Let’s not pretend like the Gator faithful should’ve booed each time that he was swallowed whole by the resilient Florida defense.
This is about the big picture, though. Did Saturday change your opinion of Napier? As in, the guy who entered Week 6 at 20-22 during 3.5 seasons on the job who went into October looking for his first win vs. an FBS foe this year? Yeah, that guy. He had himself a banner Saturday. Would you bet on this to continue for the next 2 months? Before you answer that, remember that this was the guy with a 5-15 mark in games not played in The Swamp. Even Ron Zook had a winning record in those matchups during his 3 seasons at Florida. That’ll linger, no matter how good Saturday felt.
And again, there’s nothing wrong with feeling good about Saturday’s effort. Texas entered the day ranked No. 1 in the FBS in yards/play allowed, and a limited Lagway carved that unit up. Shoot, Napier even remembered that Jadan Baugh existed. These were all good things that Florida fans had every right to feel good about, even if Texas turns out to be an 8-4 pumpkin.
But one can’t help but wonder how it felt to be the Florida fan who showed up with a sign that read “Welcome to Lanesville,” complete with a photoshopped image of Lane Kiffin in Florida gear. That fan flashed it at incoming cars who approached the southwest side of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, and surely he got no shortage of nods of approval from the folks who thought about a world in which the Ole Miss coach was their’s instead of Napier.
One couldn’t help but wonder how it felt to be Steve Spurrier, who lingered in the press box 90 minutes before his Gators welcomed a national TV audience. Impressive win aside, nobody in blue would’ve confused Florida’s offense on Saturday with the fun-and-gun units that he pioneered decades ago (it’s worth mentioning that Dallas Wilson would’ve fit right in).
Perhaps above all else, one couldn’t help but wonder how it felt to be one of those Florida decision-makers who’ll be tasked with making a decision on Napier’s future. For athletic director Scott Stricklin, there had to be at least a little smirk on Saturday. There was nothing bittersweet about his day. This was the type of day that Stricklin envisioned when he signed Napier to a 7-year, $51.8 million contract in Dec. 2021. Whether he agrees to fork over nearly $20 million to buy him out of that deal remains to be seen. All Stricklin probably cared about was that at least for 1 Saturday, he didn’t feel like he was closer to that perhaps inevitable ending.
The bittersweet reality for Napier is that any loss he suffers the rest of the season, it figures to be met with the all-important question — has Stricklin seen enough? And yes, given the self-induced ways in which Florida has lost games during the Napier era, even the close losses to respected foes will come with scrutiny. That’s the job. It’s a job that 6 people have held in a post-Spurrier world, and the only guy who lasted more than 4 years was the one who won a pair of national titles. That’s not lost on anyone who cheered like that was on the line on Saturday against Texas.
After Manning unloaded his second interception of the day, Florida fans chanted in the middle of the 4th quarter, “It’s great to be a Florida Gator … “
For a day, it was … as bittersweet as it might’ve been.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
