Billy Napier Shades Florida Fans amid Criticism for Blowout Loss to Cam Ward, Miami

The Florida Gators opened their 2024 season with a brutal 41-17 loss against rivals Miami, made all the worse because it came in The Swamp.

After the game, head coach Billy Napier said that his team needed to focus on improving and not on the angst from the fanbase following the loss.

"We gotta go to work on the football part," he told reporters Monday. "We've gotta become a more consistent team and we have to execute better. And if we can focus on those things and not necessarily what some guy in his basement is saying in rural central Florida on social media, then we've got a chance to get better."

Napier said that the team and his own coaching weren't above critique, however.

"Sometimes you deserve criticism, you know?" he said. "And I think that's one of those things I would say, I have no excuses, right? So we got to go get it fixed."

Florida will next face FCS school Samford before a tough home matchup against Texas A&M in two weeks, itself smarting after a 23-13 defeat against Notre Dame over the weekend.