2025 is a make-or-break year for Billy Napier being the guy in Gainesville and anything less than eight regular season wins won't cut it for this proud program. Napier has fixed a lot of the issues with recruiting since taking over for Dan Mullen and last year we saw some of how great things can be towards the end of the season.
After DJ Lagway came back healthy in mid-November, everything around this program seemed to change as the Freshman QB went 6-0 in games he started and finished. This clearly was seen on the field as Florida won their final three regular-season games and capped it off with a bowl win over Tulane.
Fans got to see how good this team can be, and since then, the expectations for this program have skyrocketed. DJ Lagway is a special talent, and if he continues to progress at the level he did towards the end of last season, this is going to be a special season. There is a lot of talent around him on both sides of the ball, and now it is up to Billy Napier to take this team to the next level. The schedule is far from easy, but there is no reason why this team shouldn't be in the playoff conversation going into November.
The end of September and the start of October will make or break the Gators' season with road games in Baton Rouge, Miami Gardens, and College Station. Oh, did I mention the huge home game in The Swamp against Texas? If that isn't a gauntlet enough, November is far from forgiving with games against Georgia, Tennessee, Ole Miss, and what should be a much-improved Florida State team to close the regular season. Napier got some leeway last year with how few expectations there were in addition to the schedule, but that won't be there in 2025.
They may not make the playoff, but this is a team that is too talented to drop more than 4 games, and even that is debatable going into the season considering the excitement around this program. Even if the Gators do drop a few along the gauntlet that is by far one of the toughest schedules in America they should be competitive in all games.
We shouldn't see any of ugly losses like we did at the start of last season to Miami and Texas A&M. Wins should be a lot more common in the first half of the season than they were a year ago and by the end of the 2025 season we will know if brining in Billy Napier was the right decision or not. College Football is always better when the Gators are great, so it is easy rooting for Billy Napier in 2025.
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