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Urban Meyer Doesn't Hold Back His Expectations For Florida

Originally posted on The Spun | By Tzvi Machlin | Last updated Jun 19, 2025 11:07 AM ET

While the Florida Gators basketball team is riding high after a national title win in the NCAA Tournament, Florida's football team has been having a tougher time lately.

In three seasons under head coach Billy Napier the Gators have just one winning season and are 19-19 overall. As the team heads into Year 4 of the Napier era, what are the expectations?

Former Florida head coach Urban Meyer addressed those expectations in the latest episode of The Triple Option show. Meyer believes that the team can win about eight games in 2025 - with six wins being an easy floor for them.

"The book was written on Florida last year,” Meyer said. “It was over. They lost early — lost bad early. … First of all, the quarterback (DJ Lagway) was young, and he’s coming back, obviously, but regardless, that team fought their ass off, man.

"To beat Ole Miss and to beat LSU down the stretch. Obviously, they beat Florida State. I still have so many friends involved in Florida, and the writing was on the wall. And somehow, Coach Napier, the staff and the leaders on that team ignored the noise and went out and played their best football at the end of the season. I think there’s something there right now.”

Meyer also lamented that SEC title glory and national title contention don't seem to be on the table these days.

"The expectations were SEC Championship, and that's a hard-ass conference, man," he said.

Under Meyer's leadership, Florida emerged as arguably the top football program of 2000s. They produced tons of NFL stars while going 65-15 over six years and won two national title.

MIAMI - JANUARY 08: Urban Meyer of the Florida Gators smiles as he is presented with the National Championship trophy after their 24-14 win against the Oklahoma Sooners during the FedEx BCS National Championship game at Dolphin Stadium on January 8, 2009 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Marc Serota/Getty Images)

In the 14 seasons since Meyer's departure though, Florida have fallen by the wayside as other SEC powers have taken control. Back when the SEC was split into East and West divisions, Georgia was dominating for the better part of a decade, and Florida struggled to keep up.

Perhaps the Gators can get their mojo back this year.

This article first appeared on The Spun and was syndicated with permission.

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