Florida football secures its first winning season since 2020 with victory over FSU

TALLAHASSEE – Florida football players lit their victory cigars one by one after UF’s 31-11 win over rival Florida State on Saturday night at Doak Campbell Stadium.

Offensive players Austin Barber and Brendan Crenshaw-Dickson returned to the field after the game and blew the sweet-smelling smoke into the night sky. Both raised their fists toward the Florida Gators fans who remained in the stands on a chilly night in late November.

Not only did UF end a two-game losing streak against the rival Seminoles, but the Gators (7-5) also posted their first winning season since 2020 and first winning season in three seasons under head coach Billy Napier.

It seemed unlikely when Florida started the season 1-2 after a 33-20 home loss to Texas A&M on Sept. 14 when rumors began to swirl that Napier wouldn’t last the entire season as UF’s coach.

“It all kind of came together midseason,” Napier said. “I think the players did a good job in the first month of putting their blinders on and not allowing excuses, not allowing blame, you know, and really just got back to work.”

Now Florida is poised to graduate with a top-10 recruiting class on National Signing Day next week, with a promising quarterback, DJ Lagway, who improved to 5-1 as a starter and posted wins over rivals LSU and FSU Newbie.

“It means a lot for the future of this program,” said Florida senior running back Montrell Johnson Jr., who passed the 3,000-yard mark for his career with a 65-yard TD run in the fourth quarter. “I’m just going out there with these guys, myself, including myself, have created the platform to advocate for the guys in the future to go out and make this program great again.”

How can Florida football build off the momentum of the FSU win?

After early National Signing Day, Florida prepares for its first bowl trip since 2022 and has a busy offseason in the transfer portal. The current three-game winning streak is UF’s longest under Napier, most recently coming against McNeese, Tennessee and Charlotte from Sept. 9-23 of last year.

The win over FSU represents another step in UF’s attempt to revitalize a program that struggled in its first two seasons under Napier.

“It was like a relief for my back,” Florida defensive end Tyreak Sapp said. “We lost to these guys for two years. It was a great group of guys that they put together. They finally assembled the team. It will always be a challenge. It’s a rivalry game. We don’t like them and they don’t like it. “We don’t like it. So this has been on us for two years.”

Sapp did his part, recording two of UF’s eight sacks while the Gator defense held an opponent under 17 points for the third straight game.

Offensively, Lagway wasn’t asked to do much, but did enough, completing 14 of 22 passes for 133 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Florida only led 7-0 until Lagway hit receiver Marcus Burke to give UF a 14-0 lead with 25 seconds left in the first half.

“We didn’t have our fastball on offense,” Napier said. “You know, I think that was obvious there. We had some missed opportunities.”

Lagway returned to Burke after a miscommunication with Burke and receiver Chimere Dike led to his only interception early in the second quarter.

“It was huge for me to go back to Burke because he felt like he let everyone down,” Lagway said. “It was a team effort. We all just had to get on the same page. It’s so great to get back to him on that route and score that touchdown.”

The 6-foot-1, 220-pound Lagway is being used as a transfer recruiting tool as any, as he has shown both poise and big-play ability in leading the UF offense in six starts and 12 games this season has provided.

“I will definitely be involved in the transfer portal and the recruiting class, but the biggest thing is keeping the guys we have here,” Lagway said. “That’s the biggest thing. “Just making sure everyone stays on top of things and we can add and build on this momentum that we have at the end of the season.”

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