Billy Napier Familiar With Gators Schedule Change Ahead of Missouri Game

Photo: Billy Napier; Credit: Alex Shepherd

The Florida Gators had only one six-day turnaround on their 2022 schedule entering the season, set to take on the Florida State Seminoles on Friday of the final week of the campaign after closing out their SEC schedule against Vanderbilt the prior Saturday.

Hurricane Ian's devastating impact on the state of Florida forced the schedule to shift, however, for programs that were in the storm's path or at one point were projected to be. 

UF's Week 5 matchup with Eastern Washington was moved from this past Saturday to Sunday, giving the Gators only six days this week to prepare for their Week 6 contest with the Missouri Tigers, and five SEC games in a row to follow.

Fortunately for the Gators, head coach Billy Napier is familiar with non-traditional game week schedules and intends to utilize his prior experience to keep the team on track.

Napier pointed to several instances in which his schedule at Louisiana wasn't consistent over the years, which have prepared him for the six-day turnaround before the Missouri game. 

The Ragin' Cajuns, in fact, succeeded on a similar weekly schedule in between two road games to close the 2020 regular season, defeating Appalachian State by a score of 24-21 on Friday, Dec. 4 after beating Louisiana-Monroe, 70-20, on Saturday, Nov. 28.

In 2021, Louisiana only had five normal, seven-day turnarounds during the regular season through the Sun Belt Championship weekend. UL had five days in between matchups twice, nine days four times and ten days once. 

"One of the valuable things about the experience at Louisiana, we played about every turnaround possible," Napier said on Sunday. "We’ve had a number of different scenarios because of midweek games, so we have a lot of templates we’ve used the last couple of years. We’re going to lean on that a little bit."

As a result, the Gators had a two-a-day of sorts on Monday by combining their typical Sunday and Monday schedules, with some preparation for the Missouri game accomplished by the coaching staff last Thursday provided the team's free time after the Eastern Washington matchup had been postponed by 24 hours.

Napier suggested that an additional plan is in place for Tuesday's operations, which should allow the team to get back into its typical routine "later in the week."

"We were able to take advantage of Thursday last week as a staff," Napier explained. "We gave the players off per NCAA rules and we focused as a staff on Missouri that day. So I think from a time standpoint we’re right where we need to be.”

Without a game to play this past Saturday, some Gators were tuned into the Tigers' home contest with the formerly No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs. Missouri, a 31-point underdog entering the game, put the first points on the board in the first quarter and held the lead until a Daijun Edwards touchdown rush put Georgia on top, 26-22, with 4:03 left in the fourth quarter. 

The Bulldogs managed to squeak out a win at that score, which resulted in their slide to No. 2 in this week's AP Top 25 as well as some Florida players sharing respect for their upcoming opponent.

“I got to see a little bit of Missouri. They’ve got some weapons. They’ve got some guys that can do some damage," said Gators defensive end Tyreak Sapp. "We’re going to make sure we take all the steps that [are] needed to be made to actually go out there and play against that team.”

Florida has something to prove against Missouri, too. The Gators lost to the Tigers a year ago, 24-23, in what was former head coach Dan Mullen's final game as he was fired the next day. UF's run defense was particularly disappointing in the defeat for allowing 146 yards and a touchdown to Tigers running back Tyler Badie. 

Sapp, a true freshman at the time, didn't appear in the game and is looking forward to doing his part to prevent a similar outcome on Saturday.

"Most def, [I want to] make a difference in a lot of ways," Sapp emphasized. "The guys that we’ve got, we’re a different team. We’re a better team. I know we can take the right progressions in order to come out victorious in that game. We’re just going to work towards that this week.” 

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