They needed that.
After a soul-sapping loss at Tennessee, Florida football was desperate for a ray of hope. It got it Saturday night in them most feel-good win of the Billy Napier era.
The Gators beat Kentucky 48-20 in what might also be the remembered as the advent of the DJ Lagway era. Or maybe the Jadan Baugh era.
Baugh, a true freshman, had five TDs. Lagway, a true freshman, passed for 279 yards with only seven completions.
It was a big-play extravaganza, and not just by UF’s offense. Its defense came up with three big 4th-down stop as Florida finally stopped the historical bleeding against the Wildcats.
The Gators and Napier had to avoid a fourth-straight loss to Kentucky. Of course, every game since the opening loss to Miami has felt like a must-win.
But the one Saturday night was the mustest of them all.
A loss, and Florida would have dropped to 3-4 heading into the meat-grinder portion of its schedule. In case you haven’t heard, Georgia, Texas, LSU and Ole Miss are dead ahead.
Without hallucinogens, it would have been hard to imagine the Gators winning more than one of those games. That would have put them 4-7 at best heading into the final game against woeful FSU.
Finally beating that rival wouldn’t have mattered. The Gators would finish 5-7. It would be their fourth straight losing season, a feat not accomplished since 1935-38.
Given all that, there’s no way Florida could have sold fans on another year of Billy Ball.
The odds of his survival still aren’t great, but there are rays of hope. Ray No. 1 would be Lagway.
He’d passed for 456 yards in his first start last month against Samford. Impressive, but Kentucky is not Samford.
The Wildcats were No. 3 in the nation in total defense. Mark Stoops cooked up all sorts of schemes to try to baffle Florida’s young Jedi warrior QB.
“DJ has this innate ability to rise to the occasion and step up in big moments,” Napier said beforehand. “I’m confident he’ll do that in this situation.”
His Big Boom passing got UF near the end zone, which brings us to Ray No. 2.
Baugh had 106 yard rushing to go with his five short TD runs. He and Lagway were the first two true freshmen to start at QB and running back in Florida history. Whether its Napier or Lane Kiffin or whomever, next year’s UF coach will have a lot to work with in the backfield.
He might also have some real defensive talent. Ray No. 3 for Napier is a defense that played well for a third straight game.
The biggest sequence of the game came when the Gators stopped Kentucky on 4th-and-1 from at the UF 2-yard line. A TD would have made it 13-13. Instead, Florida took possession and drove 98 yards for score.
The defense made two more fourth-down stops in the second half to muffle Kentucky’s comeback hopes. Now the Gators have an open week before Georgia.
Then comes Texas and all the rest.
Napier’s still fighting for his job. But if he was looking for rays or hope, he’s found them.
David Whitley is The Gainesville Sun’s sports columnist. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X @DavidEWhitley
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