GAINESVILLE, Fla. \u200b\u200b\u2014 Forty-seven minutes after a victorious Billy Napier was booed on his way to the tunnel, he heard a voice from the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, Coach!\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan Snow wanted a picture.<\/p>\n
He, Kari and their two kids had driven down from South Carolina for their annual Gators game. He knew the heat around Napier \u2014 \u201ca lot of hate,\u201d he said \u2014 that didn\u2019t dissipate with Saturday\u2019s 23-21 victory over Mississippi State. He has been frustrated with Napier\u2019s results, sure, but he still wanted a memento of the embattled coach he respects.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust in case it\u2019s his last game,\u201d Ryan said.<\/p>\n
It sure felt that way, final score and $21 million buyout be damned.<\/p>\n
Billy Napier booed as he jogs off the field after Florida\u2019s 23-21 win over Mississippi State pic.twitter.com\/NfnwCezcvg<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Matt Baker (@MattBakerCFB) October 19, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Before the game, a pair of fraternities flew anti-Napier banners in front of their houses. \u201cFire Billy!\u201d read one. \u201cWelcome to Lanesville,\u201d read another, referencing Ole Miss coach (and Florida fan favorite) Lane Kiffin.<\/p>\n Afterward, Napier choked up the first time he was asked about his future, then declined to look beyond enjoying a celebratory postgame dinner with his family.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll wake up tomorrow,\u201d Napier said, \u201cand we\u2019ll worry about what\u2019s next.\u201d<\/p>\n In the middle, \u201cFI-RE BIL-LY\u201d chants broke out from the home crowd at least three times \u2014 in a conference game, it should be repeated, that Florida won.<\/p>\n The final score seems irrelevant to a fan base that has given up on a 3-4 season, as evidenced by the pockets of empty seats at a sold-out stadium on homecoming. It was irrelevant in 2021 when LSU fired Ed Orgeron a day after he beat Dan Mullen\u2019s Gators and two years ago when Texas A&M canned Jimbo Fisher the morning after a 51-10 victory over \u2026 Mississippi State. It should be irrelevant now as Florida enters an open date that would give an interim coach and his players time to adjust before facing No. 9 Georgia.<\/p>\n And it should be irrelevant to athletic director Scott Stricklin, considering what he said the last time he fired a football coach.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople look at losses as a cause to get rid of a coach,\u201d Stricklin said the day he fired Mullen after a loss at Missouri in the penultimate game of 2021. \u201cBut a lot of times the losses or things that don\u2019t go right on the field, those are symptoms of other issues.\u201d<\/p>\n Issues like the ones that have plagued Napier\u2019s 22-23 tenure and showed up again Saturday: confounding game management, befuddling play calling and the kind of self-inflicted mistakes Napier was hired to fix. The three converged in one second-quarter sequence that encapsulates why Napier has the worst winning percentage (.489) of any full-time Florida coach since World War II.<\/p>\n First, a late substitution forced Napier to burn a timeout near the red zone just before the play clock ran out. A play later, the Gators called a rush for quarterback DJ Lagway on third-and-7. It was stuffed.<\/p>\n Fans booed.<\/p>\n Then Florida couldn\u2019t get the fourth-down snap off, resulting in a delay of game penalty. The first \u201cFI-RE BIL-LY\u201d chant followed.<\/p>\n Finally, the Gators were flagged for a personal foul that pushed back a field goal attempt even further. Although Trey Smack nailed the 54-yarder, it was a small, hollow win on a day that felt like one massive empty victory.<\/p>\n If that stretch wasn\u2019t enough, Florida returned to another head-scratching theme \u2014 an inability to field 11 players \u2014 in the fourth quarter. Since 2023, the Gators have failed to have enough men on special teams in at least five games. This time, the Gators lined up with 12 for a two-point conversion.<\/p>\n The penalty led Florida to settle for an extra point. The difference meant that when Mississippi State regained the ball down 2 with 1:39 left, a field goal would no longer tie the score. It would win the game.<\/p>\n The Gators were saved because the Bulldogs remain one of the worst teams in the SEC, entering with a 14-game conference losing streak (combined score: 502-245) to prove it. The streak is 15 now because Bulldogs quarterback Blake Shapen didn\u2019t see 349-pound defensive tackle Michai Boireau dropping into coverage on the edge of field goal range. The interception sealed Florida\u2019s win.<\/p>\n BIG MAN INT TO SEAL THE WIN FOR THE GATORS \ud83d\ude31\ud83d\udea8@GatorsFB<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/5NTLvuPWv9<\/a><\/p>\n