Florida Gators

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Where is Long Island University when the Gators could really use the Sharks?

Florida opened the season with a 55-0 victory over LIU three weeks ago at The Swamp. Not much has gone right for head coach Billy Napier and his team since.

The Gators lost to USF the following week and then suffered a 20-10 defeat at No. 3-ranked LSU. The Gators could really use a cupcake. Instead, they get a crusty powerhouse.

Florida (1-2) faces No. 4-ranked Miami (3-0) on Saturday night at Hard Rock Stadium in a renewal of an in-state rivalry that dates to pre-World War II.

"This Miami team has capable weapons in all parts of their team," Napier said. "This will require us to be at our best, much like last week in that regard."



The Hurricanes opened the season with a victory over Notre Dame, and followed up that signature win by pounding Bethune-Cookman and USF by a combined score of 94-15. Miami is being touted as a College Football Playoff contender, just as the Gators were at the start of the month.

While the teams have gone in different directions the past two weeks, Miami coach Mario Cristobal is pressing the Hurricanes to keep howling.

Others might be down on the Gators, but Cristobal doesn't want to hear it.

"They are extremely talented," Cristobal said this week. "They are well-coached, are a very large, powerful, talented team. And they have explosive players at just about every position. They are as talented a team as you'll find around the country, are really a couple of plays away from sitting at 3-0."

Napier said the same thing this week. Still, the Gators must prove it on the field, and that's the mission on Saturday. A victory over the Hurricanes would instantly alter the narrative.

"We want all the smoke,'' safety Jordan Castell said. "The results are not where we want it right now, but we still practice hard. It's a standard. This is a big game for all of us."

In our latest edition of The Opening Kickoff, here is a closer look at Florida's visit to Miami:
 

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THREE STORYLINES

• The Gators are reeling after back-to-back losses. The setbacks intensified the pressure on head coach Billy Napier, who has dropped back below.500 (20-21) in his fourth season. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes thumped USF, 49-12, a week ago at Hard Rock Stadium. Mario Cristobal, hired in the same cycle as Napier, is 25-16 in his fourth season. The two veteran coaches are well acquainted. They worked at Alabama together from 2013-16.
• The Florida-Miami rivalry renews for a second consecutive season. Miami opened last season with a 41-17 win over the Gators at The Swamp on the way to its first 10-win season since 2017. The schools played annually from 1938 to 1987, but when the SEC went to an eight-game schedule, the series was put on hold. The SEC recently adopted plans for a nine-game conference schedule, so when the two proud programs will face each other next is uncertain in the ever-changing landscape of college football.
• UF sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway has faced the most intense scrutiny of his young career after throwing five interceptions in last week's 20-10 loss at LSU. Lagway finished 33 of 49 for 287 yards and one touchdown. Lagway's health, mechanics and decision-making have been under the microscope this week. Napier has his young leader's back. "I think everybody can agree that the only way you improve is you go through difficult things, difficult circumstances," Napier said. "You gotta embrace that. One thing about him, he's an elite competitor, he's tough-minded, and he'll show up angry. I promise you that."

 

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THREE (OR MORE) PLAYERS TO WATCH

• Keep an eye on a pair of talented true freshmen receivers in this one: Florida's Vernell Brown III and Miami's Malchi Toney. Brown ranks second nationally with 16 receptions among first-year players. The only rookie ahead of him is Toney, who has 18 receptions for the Hurricanes.
• Gators running back Jadan Baugh leads the team in rushing yards (243) and is averaging 6.6 yards per carry. Baugh had 104 yards in the season-opening win, 93 against USF and 46 at LSU. While Baugh did have seven receptions for 59 yards in the loss to the Tigers, an increase in production from Baugh in the running game Saturday night should only help Florida's bid at an upset. Miami defensive tackle Rueben Bain Jr., a 6-foot-3, 270-pound playmaker, serves as a potential roadblock. Bain leads the Hurricanes with 15 tackles.
• Miami quarterback Carson Beck, a former Gators baseball commitment, has thrown for 812 yards and seven touchdowns, and leads the nation in completion percentage (65 of 82, 79.3%). Beck started his college career at Georgia and is 27-3 in his career as a starter. Beck led Georgia to wins over the Gators the past two seasons and has thrown for 8,724 yards, 65 touchdowns and 22 interceptions in his career. Beck threw three interceptions in Georgia's 34-20 win over Florida a season ago, with picks by Jack Pyburn, Aaron Gates and Devin Moore leading to 10 points for UF.

 

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FIVE QUESTIONS WITH … GATORS OL AUSTIN BARBER A fifth-year senior from Jacksonville, Barber is set to make his 30th career start on Saturday when the Gators face the Hurricanes ...

Q: How is the mood after back-to-back losses and the high expectations to start the season?
A: It's always frustrating with how much work we put into the offseason, and how much we came together. I think a lot of times you see how hard we work, and I think that's the most frustrating part. We go out there and grind every single day of practice and in the weight room. We come together, and I feel like we are right there. It's frustrating.

Q: How much has DJ Lagway's lack of practice in the offseason shown up early in the season?
A: I feel as an offensive lineman, we have to be better around him. It's not just on him. It's on everybody. I feel that it is something that all of us can work together to help DJ [feel] more comfortable. It's 11 people on the field, not just one.

Q: Any explanation for the penalties on the offensive line?
A: We just have to be better. That's the main thing we have got to do – just be better. Penalties are unacceptable. I had a penalty. I don't think everybody is perfect. I just have to work on it and get better.

Q: How did Coach Napier rally the team when you were down last season?
A: It's staying together, that's the main thing. I think the whole message is stay together, don't splinter. We have a great group of guys in this building. We have great leaders. We have great staff members. Keep the outside noise out and believe in the guys in the building.
 
Q: How exciting is it to have an opportunity to flip the narrative at Miami?
A: I'm excited to go out there and put the ball back down. That's every week, put the ball down and go play. I'm just excited to go there and see what we can do. Miami and Florida's a big rivalry. It's something that you look forward to when you come to Florida. It's not often that we play them, but when it's on the schedule, it's time to go.

 

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THREE DIGITS
 
43 – Times the Gators will have appeared on ESPN's "College GameDay" after Saturday's game. That ranks third behind Ohio State (67) and Alabama (60).
40 – Years since the Gators defeated Miami in a true road game. Florida beat the Hurricanes 35-23 at the old Orange Bowl in the 1985 season opener as quarterback Kerwin Bell threw for 248 yards and four touchdowns.
39 – Years since Florida started a season (1986) with three losses in its first four games, a distinction the Gators want to keep intact with a win over the Hurricanes.
 

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INJURY REPORT

FLORIDA — OUT: DL Caleb Banks (foot), DL LJ McCray (foot), RB Treyaun Webb (hamstring), OL Fletcher Westphal (wrist), WR Dallas Wilson (foot). QUESTIONABLE: WR Kahleil Jackson (knee), DB Jamroc Grimsley (undisclosed), DL Michai Boireau (undisclosed), DB Micheal Caraway Jr. (undisclosed). MIAMI — QUESTIONABLE: RB Jordan Lyle (lower body), WR Joshisa Trader (undisclosed).
 

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NEWS, NOTES, NUGGETS

• This is the 58th all-time meeting between the schools. Miami leads the series, 30-27. The Gators are 14-14 all-time in Miami/Miami Gardens.
• The Gators enter a contest against Miami unranked for only the sixth time in program history (1950, 1954, 1955, 1959, 2024 and 2025).
• Miami's 37-point win last week over USF was its largest margin of victory over a ranked opponent since beating Washington 65-7 in 2001.
• Florida is looking to increase the pressure on defense. The Gators have only two sacks in three games, which ranks tied for 123rd among FBS programs. Florida's front seven took a hit with the loss of veteran defensive lineman Caleb Banks last week. Banks, making his season debut at LSU, suffered another foot injury and is out indefinitely, according to Napier.
• Gators tight end Hayden Hansen had seven receptions for 50 yards last week at LSU, career-bests in both categories.
• A bright spot for the defense, which has surrendered only two touchdowns in three games, is third-year sophomore cornerback Cormani McClain. He originally committed to Miami and flirted with the Gators before signing with Colorado. After a tumultuous 2023 season at Colorado, he transferred to Florida as a walk-on. He is now on scholarship and emerging as the talented player everyone projected him to be when he came out of high school. "When he first came here, I was kind of questioning him. When he actually got in, I noticed, like, this is bad. He's missing everything,'' teammate George Gumbs Jr. said this week. "We gotta talk to him all the time. And then it's like, since we came back in January, I don't know what it was, but it was a switch. He's like, a totally different guy."
• Miami has won nine consecutive home games, its last loss at Hard Rock Stadium coming to Louisville in November 2023. The Hurricanes went undefeated at home (6-0) last season for the first time since 2002.
• Miami running back Mark Fletcher Jr. is a 6-foot-2, 225-pound load to stop. Fletcher has rushed for 240 yards and four touchdowns in the first three games of the season after his 120-yard, two-touchdown performance in the win over USF. It was Fletcher's second 100-yard, multi-touchdown game against an AP-ranked team, tying Fletcher with Tyrone Moss and Willis McGahee for the most by a Hurricanes running back since 2000.
• Hurricanes safeties coach Will Harris was on Florida's staff a season ago. Harris left after one season at Florida to join the Hurricanes. Miami added several defensive backs in the transfer portal, including starting safety Jakobe Thomas (Tennessee) and nickel Keionte Scott (Auburn).
• Six players caught multiple passes for the Hurricanes in last week's win over USF: Keelan Marion (six catches, 81 yards), Malachi Toney (six catches, 66 yards), CJ Daniels (four catches, 56 yards), Josh Moore (three catches, 61 yards, two touchdowns), Tony Johnson (two catches, 64 yards) and Mark Fletcher Jr. (two catches, 25 yards).

 

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MIAMI 100

The Hurricanes are celebrating their 100th season and on Thursday announced plans to build life-sized statues of former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks Vinny Testaverde and Gino Torretta on their Coral Gables campus. They are also promoting a book, "100 Years, 100 Games: The Greatest Football Games in Miami Hurricanes History," on their official website. Miami won national titles in 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991 and 2001. They also have a video on YouTube, narrated by legendary coach Jimmy Johnson ...


 

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THEY SAID IT

• "Yeah, they came in here, you know, they whooped us, like, if we're being real. So, of course, you know, the defense wants to get back, but we're ready to play. Like, it don't matter who it is." — Gators safety Jordan Castell on motivation from last season's loss to Miami
• "There's just an aspect of chemistry with that group that's not there, being on the same page. Because if you just watch the plays, it's easy to get excited about or feel pretty good about, but it's the sequencing, it's the mistakes. It's shooting yourself in the foot, those things that are holding them back." — SEC Network analyst Cole Cubelic on Florida's offense during an appearance on Josh Pate's College Football Show
• "We couldn't block anyone in the game. Coach Spurrier made two changes on the line the next week." — Former Gators quarterback Shane Matthews, now the team's radio color analyst, to the Orlando Sentinel on his five-interception performance at Mississippi State in 1992

 

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THEY WROTE IT

• "There's no time like the present for the UF defense to rise a notch. In fact, it might be needed." — On3.com Gators reporter Keith Niebuhr on the challenge a Florida defense ranked 28th nationally faces against No. 4-ranked Miami
• "There are losses. Then there are the kind of soul-crushing and job-threatening losses that rob a fan base of all its hope." — Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi following Florida's loss at LSU
• "Is 'The U' back? With a reinvigorated Carson Beck under center, the Miami Hurricanes look like one of the best teams in the country through the first few weeks of the season, and they can cement that status with a big win over the rival Florida Gators." — Andrew Caley of Covers.com

 

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WHY GATORS WILL WIN
They get a strong rebound performance from quarterback DJ Lagway and cut down on the penalties. That is the first step. They will need to establish the running game to take some of the pressure off Lagway, and then the defense needs to get pressure on Miami's Carson Beck the way it did last year when he was at Georgia. If Florida forces multiple turnovers without giving the ball away, this one could be close if the Gators can stop Mark Fletcher Jr. from running free.
 
WHY MIAMI WILL WIN
The Hurricanes are hot, and a home game against the Gators seems to bring out the best in them. Since losing to the Gators at home last, Miami is 8-2 against Florida, including 3-0 in true home games. Oh, and this Miami team could be better than the one that beat up the Gators in The Swamp last year. If Beck does what he's been doing, and the Miami defense harasses Lagway all night, look for the Hurricanes to stay undefeated.