Florida and Mississippi State are both badly in need of a victory as they meet Saturday in Starkville, Miss.
The Gators (1-2, 0-1 SEC), who didn’t offer much resistance in their 41-17 season-opening setback to Miami, had a similarly disappointing home performance in a 33-20 loss to Texas A&M last Saturday.
The poor start already is leading to speculation about the future of third-year head coach Billy Napier.
“Everything that happens within our team and organization is my responsibility,” said Napier, whose first two teams finished a combined 11-14. “This place has great history and tradition. You want to get it back there. It’s one of the reasons you take the job and accept the challenge.”
Napier said he’s likely to continue to play two quarterbacks, senior Graham Mertz and freshman DJ Lagway.
“The impressive thing to me is just how both these guys have handled themselves, how they’re working together, the camaraderie they have,” Napier said. “Ultimately, my expectation is they both prepare well, they both practice well and they both play lights-out when given a chance.”
The Gators are playing their first SEC road game while the Bulldogs (1-2) are playing their SEC opener a week after a 41-17 home loss against Toledo.
First-year head coach Jeff Lebby’s team suffered the program’s most-lopsided nonconference home loss since 2006.
“Both sides of the ball, the self-inflicted wounds and the facts of not being able to get out of our own way at times was probably the most disappointing thing,” Lebby said.
MSU did not gain a first down on any of its first three possessions and didn’t score a touchdown until less than six minutes remained in the third quarter.
“You look at us offensively, negative plays on the first three drives of the game put us in such bad situations,” Lebby said. “The messaging to our guys is focusing incredibly small, everybody understanding we’ve got this job to do, us as coaches and us as players, and to just do our job and focus solely on that.”
–Field Level Media
