Florida coach Billy Napier’s job is not in immediate jeopardy. Neither is LSU coach Brian Kelly’s.
But as No. 22 LSU prepares to face Florida in an SEC game Saturday in Gainesville, Fla., the disappointing performance of the teams under both third-year coaches is dominating storylines around the programs.
Speculation about Napier’s possible dismissal swirled after a 1-2 start that featured home losses by 24 points to Miami and by 13 points to Texas A&M. But amid the Gators showing modest midseason improvement, athletic director Scott Stricklin said last week that the coach will remain in his position going forward. The Gators (4-5, 2-4 SEC) then went out and watched Texas take a 42-0 lead on its way to a 49-17 victory.
Kelly has seven years remaining on his 10-year $100 million contract, so firing him doesn’t seem feasible anytime soon, but the Tigers (6-3, 3-2) have lost two in a row, including a 42-13 embarrassment at home against Alabama last week. The game before that, they led Texas A&M 17-7 at halftime on the road before getting outscored 31-6 in the second half.
The losing coach Saturday will likely endure intensifying criticism.
“I feel pretty confident we know what we are doing,” Kelly said. “Am I happy about what happened? No. Are our players? No. I am not in a position to worry about what people are saying about the overall health of the program.”
Each of Kelly’s first two teams finished with 10 victories after winning bowl games. This team will have to sweep its last three regular-season games and win a bowl to match those two.
“We have one of the top recruiting classes in the country,” Kelly said. “Those things are only going to continue to get better. A championship program is what we are going to have here. There are going to be some stumbles along the way, but we will get back up and we are going to keep building our program where it needs to be. And that’s a championship program.”
After the 1-2 start, Florida won three of its next four and the loss was a 23-17 overtime defeat at then-No. 8 Tennessee. But starting quarterback Graham Mertz suffered a season-ending torn ACL in that game and two games later, freshman DJ Lagway strained a hamstring in a loss to Georgia.
Third-string quarterback Aidan Warner struggled against Texas, completing 12 of 25 passes for 132 yards. The Gators are hopeful Lagway will be available Saturday.
Napier said the offense’s problems against the Longhorns weren’t all Warner’s fault.
“I think we can play better around him,” he said.
Florida hosts No. 11 Ole Miss and visits Florida State in its final two games, has to win two of its final three games to salvage bowl eligibility.
“We’ve been very inconsistent,” Napier said. “We’re getting closer. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Obviously, I’m disappointed with Saturdays. I do think our group is trending in the right direction. We’re not there yet.”
