GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Gators have put some distance between Saturday's home loss to USF and what's ahead. They are in the middle of game-week preparations for their road trip to No. 3 LSU on Saturday night.
"Having played there with a couple of different teams, it never disappoints,'' Napier said of Death Valley. "As a competitor, these are the opportunities that you dream of. We're excited by all that comes with this. This will require us to be at our best."
While the Gators are looking forward, Napier faced more questions about the recent past on Wednesday when he made his weekly appearance on the Southeastern Conference media teleconference.
Florida has lost three consecutive games in Baton Rouge, including a 52-35 defeat to the Tigers in 2023, the Gators' only trip to LSU with Napier at the helm. The Gators last won at LSU in 2016.
While Florida snapped a five-game overall losing streak to LSU a year ago at The Swamp, a victory that ignited a five-game win streak until the Gators' 18-16 loss to USF, Napier is not ready to go back to the drawing board.
He expects the Gators to show up believing they can knock off the Tigers despite what transpired four days ago.
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"Everything that has been built here didn't all of a sudden just disappear,'' Napier said Wednesday. "We didn't perform to the best of our ability, the ball didn't bounce our way on a few things, but there's been a ton of investment put into the people on our team, within the organization, and those things still exist.
"If you have been doing this the right way, you've developed some intangibles for these types of moments."
As for quarterback
DJ Lagway, who threw for 222 yards in the loss to the Bulls and continues to shake off the rust of an injury-plagued offseason, Napier is confident his sophomore quarterback is close to the player he was a season ago when he went 6-0 in games he started
and finished.
"DJ continues to get exponentially better by the day,'' Napier said. "The more work he gets, the better he is going to get. It's exponential improvement at this point because he is getting a ton of reps each day with his teammates. I'm excited about that. That's one of the things I look forward to, watching him get better."
Here are a few other topics Napier covered on the conference call:
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The play-calling from Saturday's loss has received criticism from fans and media, and a reporter asked Napier about what goes into the balance between plays calls that go sideline-to-sideline vs. vertical down the field …
"A lot of it has to do with how the defense is playing and the decision-making of the quarterback,'' he said. "I'm excited about what's ahead of us. We have had success doing all of that at times, and we haven't had success doing it at all times. We need to play with more consistency, precision and detail, we need to stack plays within possessions, we need more plays where we go 11-for-11. We need to communicate better. We need to play with more poise, composure and discipline, and then I think they'll be patting us on the back when we do it right, much like when you do it wrong, you get criticized. We signed up for it all, so hopefully we can get it turned around."
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The Gators will face an LSU team that includes a pair of UF players from a season ago in edge rusher Jack Pyburn and defensive back Ja'Keem Jackson …
"Nothing personal. We don't talk about it a lot,'' Napier said. "We've got a lot of respect for all these guys, and we've had a number of those scenarios in the past. Our guys will be ready to play regardless of who is on the other side."
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Here are three more relevant quotes from Napier's 10-minute call …
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QUOTE OF NOTE I
"This can galvanize your group. When adversity hits, you need to elevate; you definitely don't need to shrink back. We're going to double down on who we are and try to go play a brand of football we can all be proud of." — Napier on bouncing back from disappointment
QUOTE OF NOTE II
"I would say there probably is, not that you could talk about it on a press conference call." — Napier on whether there are potential game-plan advantages in facing former players
QUOTE OF NOTE III
"The important thing here is that we use what we experienced Saturday. Can we take that and use it as a catalyst to make the team better? What I do sense is a loyalty. I think guys want to do their best for each other. They are trying to take this head-on. These things make you better. They make you stronger. They make you tougher." – Napier on what he has seen from the team's mindset the first two days of practice this week
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