Does Record Tell Whole Story of Florida Interim Coach Gonzales?
“Fire Billy! … Fire Billy!” rang throughout Ben Hill Griffin Stadium as the Gators beat Mississippi State by the skin of their teeth on Oct. 18.
Florida fans got their wish the next morning when athletic director Scott Stricklin informed the Gators coach he would be relieved of his duties.
Stricklin replaced Napier with a different Billy, promoting wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales to interim head coach. Gonzales is off to a 0-3 start, but the record doesn’t tell the whole story.
Gonzales made his debut against No. 5 Georgia in Jacksonville on Nov 1. While the Gators lost 24-20 to Georgia, it was the closest game the Gators had played against the Bulldogs since a 44-28 win in 2020, when Kyle Trask threw for 474 yards to stars Kyle Pitts and Kadarius Toney. To put that in perspective, Napier went 0-3 against Georgia, each game by at least a 14-point margin.
Many fans were excited for the new play-calling after Napier’s exit, but Florida’s offense still missed out on opportunities even with quarterback coach Ryan O’Hara calling the shots. The Gators went 2-for-11 on third down and 0-for-2 on fourth down.
Gonzales seemed to have resolved communications issues, such as instances when players weren’t on the field for kicks, causing game delays or unnecessary timeouts for Florida. That success was only temporary.
“Communication was really good during the game,” Gonzales said after the loss to UGA. “We didn’t have any substitution errors, no delay of games, didn’t have to call any timeouts for any phase because of any issue.”
The Gators then were embarrassed in a 38-7 loss at Kentucky after beating the Wildcats 48-20 in The Swamp the year before.
Florida looked lost on the field and quarterback DJ Lagway threw three interceptions in the first half. Unlike Napier, Gonzales benched his five-star quarterback for a true freshman Tramell Jones Jr. in the second half.
“I’ll take complete responsibility, and that’s on me,” Gonzalez said after the loss to Kentucky. “I told the players that after the game. They gotta keep together, do not splinter, continue to keep working and to keep pushing.”
Florida then went into Oxford to take on No. 6 Ole Miss. After starting down 10-0, Gonzales’ team rallied to take a 24-20 lead going into halftime, looking like a completely different team than the one that looked like it wanted to quit a week before.
“We played extremely hard,” Gonzales said. “If you look at the film again, the players played hard.”
Statistically, it was Florida’s best game under Gonzales. The Gators went 6-for-13 on third down and had 326 yards of offense. Lagway looked the best he’s had all year, apart from the win against then-No. 9 Texas. Florida went 3-for-3 in the red zone and was driving to take the lead with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter before a tipped pass was intercepted on third down.
“I scrambled out, had Aiden [Mizell], he beat his defender. The guy in front of him just made a good play and tipped it,” Lagway said. “And at the end of the day, it’s just that we got to keep going.”
Even though Billy Gonzales is 0-3 as Florida’s interim coach, it’s not as bad as the record seems. He is 2-1 against the spread in his three games, covering against Georgia and Ole Miss. Gonzales came in to take over a team that has been all over the place all season, and didn’t have an entire offseason in the head coaching role. For a team ranked No. 15 in the Associated Press Preseason Poll and now 11th in the SEC and out of bowl-game contention, Gonzales’ main priority has been keeping this team on the rails.
The game against the Rebels, one of the best teams in the nation, is a huge accomplishment. While Gonzales may not be Florida’s head coach next season, he has shown leadership qualities that players look for in their coaches.
Florida has a chance to get Gonzales’ first win Saturday against No. 23 Tennessee under the lights in The Swamp and continue a 10-game home win streak against the Volunteers.
Category: College Football, Gators Football, SEC
