Pat Dooley’s Back Nine: Disastrous Start For Florida Football

The Back Nine comes at you after a great weekend of college football turned into a familiar theme in Gainesville.

10. Billy Napier called the 41-17 loss to Miami “embarrassing.” I’d call it nauseating. That said, there were several people close to the program who feared something like this might happen. As the game got closer, I was one of them. Miami is good enough to overcome coach Mario Cristobal. Florida is not good enough to overcome its coaches. Yes, I said it. I would never call for a coach’s head one game into a season. But this was, well, embarrassing and anyone on the bandwagon was willing to take a chance on jumping off as it was careening off a cliff.

11. The worst part of it was Florida lost the same way it has been losing for the last three seasons (for the record that’s 22 losses against 17 wins and Napier is responsible for 15 of those L’s). Let’s see, key defensive penalty to keep a drive alive, no pass rush, no pass defense, soft on tackling and – this is the worst part – the appearance of a team that was unprepared. That’s how you lose six games in a row. I don’t have the answer. Meanwhile, everyone left on Florida’s brutal schedule looked great. It felt like everybody scored in the 60s. Except LSU. Coach Brian Kelly was not a happy camper after that loss.

12. This from Miami quarterback Cam Ward, who lit up the Gators – “I played at USC. USC wasn’t packed, but it was louder than this. I played in Oregon, it was louder than this. Some advice to the fans: If you’re going to be loud, you have to be loud when we’re huddling. Can’t just be loud once we break the huddle.” Dang, even the fanbase is getting made fun of. Ward was better than we thought even with that three-quarters delivery. I thought Florida would bat down a few passes, but that would have required a pass rush.

13. So, where do we go from here? It’s a long season and clearly we were sold a false narrative about this third Napier squad. I’m always telling people that if you only listen to what the coaches say you are buying fool’s gold. The thing is, I am not sure Florida will be favored in another game all season after Samford this week. I have said to anyone who has asked me that only a disaster of a season would get Napier fired. Well, if you want him gone, he’s off to a disastrous start.

14. Meanwhile, Georgia looked like the No. 1 team in the country and Clemson looks like it will never come back with Zeppo Swinney. I’m just thankful I was able to have the Steve Spurrier years and the Urban Meyer years and the Ray Goff years. At least those were fun. This is not. But I still watched a lot of football despite the Gators laying a rotten egg served in a used diaper with just a hint of tarragon and shame.

15. The Picks had a really nice weekend (unlike all Gator fans) going 3-1 to put the record for Dr. Football at 4-2 for the year. We makin’ money. On to this week’s games:

• I’m not picking the Florida game, because I can’t find a spread anywhere. Just know Samford lost its opener to West Georgia 38-29. Their fans are not as unhappy as Florida fans. I’ll take Texas giving 6.5 at Michigan to cover in the biggest game of the day.
• Arkansas is getting eight points at Okie State, which seems like a lot of points after the Piglets scored 70 points last week. I’ll still take the pretend Cowboys.
• SEC play begins with the colossal matchup between South Carolina and Kentucky. The Gamies are 10-point underdogs. Just a hunch, but I will take Steve Spurrier’s old team to cover.
• Tennessee is favored by 7.5 against N.C. State in Charlotte and I’ll give the points and root for the underdog.

16. The trip that Mary Wise’s team took to Colorado paid off with a 3-0 record, including a sweep of Michigan State on Sunday. Isabel Martin, a transfer from UNLV by way of Germany, had 40 kills in the three matches. Germany, Vegas, Gainesville. That’s some culture shock.

17. Scottie Scheffler likely wrapped up Player of the Year on the PGA Tour with his win in Atlanta. What a year with eight wins, the Tour Championship, The Masters, The Players and the Olympics gold medal. “If you can describe it in words, more power to you,” he said. I cannot. The guy is the closest thing to Tiger Woods we’ve seen. Let’s see, dominating season with a major incident while driving not a golf ball but a car? Yep, checks all the boxes.

18. It’s difficult to play enough good music to keep my lunch from coming up after that performance Saturday, but I will try with this playlist:

• “Bright Lights” by the Killers, which almost sounds like they tapped into their inner Meat Loaf.
• “The Blues Are Still Blue” by Belle and Sebastian.
• And for an old one, “Friday On My Mind” by The Easybeats.

WRUF.com sports columnist Pat Dooley can be heard on “The Tailgate” along with Jeff Cardozo from 4-6 p.m. Monday-Friday on 98.1-FM/AM-850 WRUF.