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Paul Finebaum claims Billy Napier ‘should lose’ every game of crucial 2025 stretch
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Paul Finebaum understands as much as anyone what is at stake for Billy Napier entering the 2025 season with Florida. After an underwhelming tenure but an 8-win season in 2024, it is officially “go time” for Napier’s time in Gainesville.
Beyond the results on the field, Florida has also heavily invested in Napier’s current program through NIL and a strong roster. That group is headlined by former 5-star quarterback DJ Lagway, and it’s imperative Napier and his staff maximize the talent of Lagway immediately.
There’s no question it will not take long to find out if Napier’s seat will cool with some impressive wins this season or reach scorching levels. By the midway part of the season, the Gators will have already faced a 4-game stretch of games at LSU, at Miami, vs. Texas and at Texas A&M.
And Finebaum believes it is a true “backs to the wall” moment for Napier:
“By the way, not even a big statement to say he should lose all 4,” claimed Finebaum in a conversation with On3 Sports. While Finebaum received some pushback from the hosts, Finebaum stood firm.
“I really don’t think that’s a big statement to make,” said Finebaum as he doubled down.
A key factor in that stretch is that 3 of those 4 games come on the road away from the Swamp. And the 4th just happens to be against a team expected to be fighting fort a College Football Playoff berth in Texas.
Florida’s regular-season win total has been set at 6.5 at FanDuel, and that’s not a great outlook for the Gators. They’ll need to win at least a couple of that brutal 4-game stretch to feel good about hitting the over in that mark, and Billy Napier probably needs to do a bit better than that to keep his job.
We’ll see how the 2025 season shapes up when things kick off in August.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
