Dane Key had eight catches against Vanderbilt last week. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Florida coach Billy Napier called Kentucky a “good football team” despite its 3-3 record going into Saturday night’s game in Gainesville.
“Regardless of the record, when you turn on the tape you see a team that has height, length, and speed, and certainly has an identity in all three parts of their team and can create a ton of issues for you,” Napier said Monday. “Strong defensive unit that has a bunch of veteran players.
“Obviously an offensive unit that has improved every week. And special teams, they’ve got dynamic returners that can cause some headaches.”
That “improved” Kentucky offense has only four touchdowns in four SEC games and notice he did not mention the two botched snaps UK had on special teams last week that were costly in the loss to Vanderbilt.
“So coach (Mark) Stoops does a really good job. Have a ton of respect for him as a coach in terms of what he’s accomplished and the consistency in which they played. So Kentucky is much better than their record says, and obviously this will be a big challenge,” Napier said.
Florida lost 23-17 in overtime at No. 8 Tennessee last week. A year ago it lost 33-14 at Kentucky when it could not contain running back Ray Davis. Kentucky also won 26-15 in Gainesville in 2022 and 20-13 in Lexington in 2021. That’s a three-game UK win streak going into Saturday night’s game. And don’t forget Kentucky also won 27-16 in Gainesville in 2018.
Napier deflected any real comment when asked about UK’s recent success against the Gators.
“The big game in this league is the next game. Regardless of the opponent and the location you got to treat it that way,” the Florida coach said. “The key is you got to get consumed with the process rather than the result. If you go about that the right way it can help you be in the position that you want.
“And certainly given our team, the record, you know, I think one of the most important things is that we depend on our values and that we use that to kind of align with our behavior, or self-discipline, the way we treat people, make decisions. I think all those things contribute.
“So we got to get ready not only football-wise but we also got to get ready from the mindset standpoint to compete again with the same intangibles that we had last Saturday.”
Napier was also asked if the way his team “got run off the field last year” in Lexington might motivate the Gators.
“There is no lack of respect here for Kentucky, I can promise you that,” Napier said. “They’ve got a good football team. They’ve had a very consistent program. Coach Stoops has done a good job.”
So that’s not an issue at all.
2 Responses
Should be a little cooler this weekend – should help our bigs.
Whoever wins this game can still have a fair season. Whoever loses must go in desperation mode to make a bowl game. 3-4 to Kentucky means we will lose to Tennessee its 50/50 with Auburn I see a blowout at Texas who looks like the best team in college football. Murray state is the only for sure win left. Louisville is also a 50/50 game. So we have 2 50/50 games and one more win. That’s a struggle to just make a bowl game. We all knew the defense was going to be good. We just didn’t know the offense was going to be this bad. Take away half the penalties from this year which could have been prevented and we beat Georgia and we beat Vanderbilt. South Carolina completely dominated us that was a loss no matter what but we still had a ton of stupid penalties it could have been closer. This year has been good for one thing. We should get some guys back that would have left if we had a better year. The bad thing is we lose alot of offensive lineman off this team so next year it could be even worse. He needs to start getting the freshman some game experience. Playing all the backups. Our line is so terrible it literally can’t get any worse. Burton, Ray, and Farmer will be back next year if they don’t transfer.