Florida's woeful third-down performance against Utah draws ire of Billy Napier

It was a terrible performance for the Florida Gators.

They were one-half of the marquee matchup this past Thursday night but barely showed up in a 24-11 loss to No. 14 Utah.

The Gators managed just three points for much of the game, facing a 24-3 deficit at the start of the fourth quarter. They put a touchdown on the board with 9:22 to go in the game to make it at least look somewhat respectable, but this was a route through and through for the Utes.

According to head coach Billy Napier after the contest, it really came down to the Gators' inability to convert third downs. Specifically, Florida dealt with far too many third-and-longs that the Gators could not convert.

“I think that we’re living in third and long and that’s not where you want to live,” Napier said, per On3. “I think national average in all these situations that we had are not good for any team much less our team.”

Florida converted just one of 13 third-down tries for a pitiful efficiency percentage of 7.69%.

"We want to live in third and manageable, and that comes down to eliminating the negative plays. Ultimately if you take care of the ball and you limit negative plays you’re probably going to have a pretty good day on offense,” Napier explained. “Those are the two significant stats in this game. We took care of the ball outside of the turnover, which was a little bit unique in itself, and then the issue was the negative plays.”

Florida also struggled with penalties, committing nine to Utah's five. Throw in five sacks and seven tackles for loss given up, and that's a recipe for playing way behind the sticks.

"I think the negative plays on third and manageable contributed to third and longs, and all of a sudden we’re not near as successful as we’d like to be,” Napier said.

Florida will look to get back on track against McNeese in Week 2. The Gators will have another test in Week three when they take on No. 12 Tennessee.