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Florida football coach Billy Napier took the podium at SEC football media days in Dallas, Texas on Wednesday expressing confidence in his team’s leadership and experience.
The majority of the questions Napier faced centered on a schedule that ESPN’s Football Power Index rated as the most difficult in the country. It begins for the Florida Gators in The Swamp on Aug. 31 with a game against state-rival Miami and concludes with a November gauntlet against five teams that finished in the Top 14 in the CFP Football Playoff rankings last season — vs Georgia in Jacksonville (Nov. 2), at Texas (Nov. 9), LSU (Nov. 16), Ole Miss (Nov. 23) and at Florida State (Nov. 30).
“Great thing about our schedule, we don’t take it on as individuals, but as a team,” Napier said. “I tell the team, ignore the noise and don’t believe the hype.”
Florida has gone 11-14 overall and 6-10 in the SEC in Napier’s first two seasons. Last season, Florida went 5-7, closing the season with five straight losses to miss a bowl game for the first time since 2017.
Two of the five losses were by three points or less, including an overtime loss to Arkansas at The Swamp (39-36) and a 33-31 loss at Missouri in which the Gators could have closed out of the game, but allowed Missouri to convert on a 4th-and-17 play in the closing seconds.
“We’ve been involved in a lot of close games,” Napier said. “We need to learn to close those games out.”
Florida running back Montrell Johnson Jr. said that players are using the difficulty of the schedule as motivation.
“We’re looking at it as 12 opportunities to prove ourselves to the nation,” Johnson said.
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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/florida-football-coach-billy-napier-193306416.html
Author : The Gainesville Sun
Publish date : 2024-07-17 20:43:55
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