Napier, Lagway Take Accountability for Gators' Loss, Aim to Move Forward

While the Florida Gators did not find a way to completely embarrass themselves on Saturday against Miami (outside of its worst offensive output in Billy Napier's tenure), questions remain about how the team can turn things around.

With storm clouds encircling Napier's job status, the team, from an improvement point, could remain stagnant. Napier and quarterback DJ Lagway on Saturday spoke about the 26-7 loss and looking forward.

Accountability

While Napier stands at the podium regardless of outcome, as he should, you have to wonder about what the mood is like inside the locker room and what comes next.

"Yeah, I think that when we watch the tape, it’ll be a combination of a lot of things. I think every position is contributing to our issues," Napier said. "Obviously, we talked about DJ and what he's been through this offseason.

“I do think that there's some rhythm missing there, and that's going to be what we—we're going to go back to the drawing board, and I think the open date's coming at a good time there. We've got to evaluate everything we're doing on that side of the ball.”

Coaches normally evaluate what goes on with both sides of the ball and attempt to fix it. It's called coaching. From a distance, the offense looks disjointed and out of rhythm. Maybe the head coach needs to strip the playcaller of his duties.

Oh wait.

Lagway possesses all of the physical gifts you'd want in a quarterback. With that said, as a sophomore, the entire "still a young quarterback" narrative needs to cease. He was younger last year, and he played better.

Too Athletic to be Timid

Lagway lived and survived on the checkdown. Did the five-interception performance against LSU scare him into passivity? For his skillset, Lagway is best when he is aggressive but not reckless.

"I didn't play my best ball tonight. I took what the defense gave me," he said. "I didn't make a lot of plays that I needed to make to stand out in the game. I kind of just managed it. I didn't make a lot of big plays, so I'm trying to find the balance between both. And still just development. Just trying to get better."

Being a tad wary after an atrocious performance is relatively understandable, but the offense does possess the weapons to threaten vertically. Retreating into a shell is never going to win the game. Somewhere between game manager and gunslinger is where Lagway needs to reside in order to find his groove.

1-3 is exactly what it is. No excuses, fix this, and no rationalizing ends the slump. Somehow, forces, whether internal or external, need to push the program along, or 1-3 will turn into Florida's worst season since the 0-10-1 1979 season.