Image Credit: Lorenzo Vasquez, UAA

If this were the NFL, the conversation following the Florida Gators’ loss Saturday night would surround tanking the season to move up in the draft. Alas, the Gators do not have that luxury. Florida fell 38-7 to the Kentucky Wildcats at Kroger Field in Lexington, Kentucky, its worst defeat in the series since 1950.

While the Gators defense was abhorrent, the latest implosion of sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway gave Florida no chance. Lagway threw three first-half interceptions while playing lackadaisically with continued poor footwork, late throws and passes with too much air under them.

Freshman QB Tramell Jones Jr. replaced Lagway to start the second half, hardly faring any better, completing 9 of 17 passes for 60 yards.

Kentucky scored on its first four possessions as UF’s lone points of the opening 30 minutes came on the back of a muffed punt that was recovered in the red zone. Lagway hit sophomore running back Jadan Baugh for a 10-yard touchdown. Baugh finished with 91 total yards on 22 touches.

The Wildcats’ 24-7 lead at the break marked more points than they had posted in five full games this season. Considering the Gators had not come back from a halftime deficit of 17+ points in 60 years, that basically cemented the game, which resulted in the ‘Cats largest win against an SEC opponent since 1998.

UK increased its advantage to 31-7 early in the third quarter, with a 21-0 edge in the Middle 8, before taking a truly insurmountable lead with a 65-yard breakaway rushing score in the fourth.

Florida fell to 3-6 (2-4 SEC), basically guaranteeing its fourth losing season in the last five years, given the quality of opponents remaining. The last time the Gators finished below .500 four times in five years was 1945-49.

There’s likely no coming back for DJ Lagway

Whether Lagway has thrown his last pass in the orange & blue is tough to say — there is so much season left — but Saturday night all but solidified that he will not be on the Florida roster in 2026. Even if that may have been the case anyway, given Billy Napier’s firing, Lagway has been saying all the right things of late, and there was some thought that the Gators’ next coach might convince him to stay if that hire is a quarterback guru.

Lagway’s performance against Kentucky almost certainly snuffed out the want-to — both on Lagway’s end and that of the Florida fans, even those who had expressed patience with his play in Year 2.

Looking like a shell of the player who joined the Gators as a five-star prospect, Lagway clearly needs a top-to-bottom refresh. His footwork and mechanics are all over the place, and his confidence is shot. While some may want to blame that on Napier and QB coach Ryan O’Hara, they got career-best play from Graham Mertz, who was seen as damaged goods, trashed upon his transfer to Florida.

Lagway, who earned between $2 million and $3 million in NIL this season, has 10 touchdowns and 12 interceptions on the season with games of five picks (vs. LSU) and three picks (at Kentucky). His TD-INT ratio is 22-21 in his UF career.

A signal caller makes his greatest progress between his first and second seasons. Lagway did not have that opportunity due to an offseason recovery program that kept him from practicing until 10 days before Week 1 kickoff. Napier can certainly be blamed for starting Lagway before he was truly prepared to play — physically and mentally — but the decision to skip a key surgery and play the waiting game was made by his family in consultation with doctors.

If the right coach is hired and Lagway truly desires to remain committed to the Gators, perhaps enough goodwill can be built to create a legitimate opportunity for success in 2026. At this point, though, it seems more likely than not he is playing in a different uniform next September.

There’s no defense

Florida’s defense entered the Kentucky game a shell of the unit that started the season. Missing most of their veteran secondary and key players throughout the front seven, the Gators had admirably gritted their teeth and held tough against quality opponents over the last few weeks.

The bottom completely fell out Saturday night as the defense was unable — or unwilling — to stop a Wildcats offense that was one of the worst in the SEC entering the game.

Kentucky scored on its first four possessions and never punted. The only times it touched the ball without scoring were a pair of late-first half turnovers. Florida got outscored 35-0 to end the game, giving up 401 yards of offense while allowing conversions on 10 of 15 third and fourth downs.

It was an embarrassing and unacceptable effort from start to finish, especially given how the defense played just a week ago in a hard-fought loss to Georgia.

Bad to worse

Redshirt freshman RB KD Daniels fumbled off an offensive lineman’s calf.

Redshirt senior punter Tommy Doman boted a ball 29 yards; he averaged 27.7 yards per punt in the game. Doman’s continued ineffectiveness — given UF’s thin margin of success — has been a largely ignored issue all season.

Odds & ends

Florida fell to 54-22 in the all-time series with a 22-13 record in Lexington and a 3-5 mark in the last eight meetings … interim coaches at UF are now 14-11 all-time … the Gators defense has forced turnovers in 19 of the last 21 games with multiple takeaways in 15 of those contests … Florida has given up 21+ in five straight games after previously holding opponents to 20 points or fewer in seven consecutive games … the Gators fell to 4-13 on the road and 5-18 away from home since Napier was hired … UF now has a 4-18 mark in its last 22 true road games dating back to the prior regime … Florida is 0-5 away from home this season … since Napier was hired, the Gators are 3-18 when opponents score first, 1-18 when scoring less than 2 points, 7-23 when allowing 21+ points, 4-19 when tied or trailing at halftime, 3-23 when tied or trailing after the third quarter and 4-18 when being outrushed … UF is 42-15 against unranked opponents since 2018 … Florida has scored in 470 games, an NCAA record

What it means

This was Florida’s first loss of 30+ points to an unranked team since 1970. There is nothing positive to take away from the performance. As badly as the defense played, the offense was just as poor. The Gators only scored on a muffed punt that gave them a short field, and they were unable to move the ball with Jones just as they struggled with Lagway. Yes, Florida was down significant talent on both sides of the ball, but given the program’s overall recruiting and prominence, a loss like this should never happen.

UF’s only winnable game is its regular-season finale against in-state rival Florida State. The next two weeks — against top 25 teams — may be even more embarrassing.

What’s next?

After getting routed by a bottom-tier SEC team, Florida will try its hand against a top-tier team when it visits No. 6 Ole Miss next Saturday. The game will kick off at 7 p.m. ET and air on ESPN with conversation centering on Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin. The Gators won a 24-17 upset in The Swamp last season.

Only Gators is actively updating this post-game article with additional takeaways. Stay tuned and refresh the page.