Florida Gators’ upset of Tennessee Vols is validation for Billy Napier

GAINESVILLE — Florida Gators coach Billy Napier was downright giddy by his stoic standards after the biggest win of his career — Saturday’s 29-16 upset of No. 11 Tennessee.

“How sweet it is,” Napier said.

The result was, sweet, of course. After becoming the first coach in Gators history to lose to the program’s four current annual nemeses (Tennessee, Florida State, Georgia and LSU) in his debut season, he finally has a marquee triumph. His Gators (2-1, 1-0 SEC) also avoided their first 1-2 start in three decades.

But the way the Gators won made it sweeter.

“That’s who we’ve got to be,” Napier said.

The Gators aren’t a Fun ‘N’ Gun, pass-happy offense ready to score 50 points per game. Rather, Napier’s blueprint is based on complementary football — a solid offense that meshes with a sound defense. And for one of the first times in his 16 games, you saw how it can deliver a big-time win over a big-name opponent.

The focal point was quarterback Graham Mertz. No, he’s not as talented as Joe Milton, the 6-foot-5, 235-pound, rocket-armed beast for Tennessee (2-1, 0-1). But he managed the game well.

He completed 17 of his 20 first-half passes; one of his incompletions was a throwaway, and another hit receiver Ricky Pearsall in the hands. He also added a short touchdown rush to help Florida go into the locker room with a 26-7 lead.

Mertz delivered a few third-down plays Napier deemed “epic.” There was a scramble where he pump-faked a defender out of the way and red-zone deception that ended with a scoring screen pass to Montrell Johnson.

But mostly, Mertz consistently converted unspectacular plays. He led a 14-play, 82-yard scoring drive in which he completed all seven of his passes to five different receivers. He looked like the player the Gators wanted when they picked the former Wisconsin starter among two-dozen other transfer options.

Mertz got plenty of help from players Napier has added in his 22 months here — an encouraging sign of how Napier evaluates and acquires talent. Gaither High product Eugene Wilson had six catches before leaving with an upper-body injury (X-rays showed no broken bones). Sophomore Trevor Etienne rushed for a career-high 172 yards, including a dazzling 62-yard touchdown.

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Napier’s takeaway, though, was telling: “We stayed on schedule. … We kept third down manageable.”

Translation: They were efficient. And, if the defense plays the way it did early Saturday in front of the 12th-largest crowd in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium history (90,751), that will eventually be enough to make Florida a championship contender again.

Florida hounded Milton and, for the most part, bottled up an explosive offense. The Gators allowed only 393 yards; it’s only the eighth time in Josh Heupel’s head coaching career (at Tennessee and UCF) that he was held under 400 yards. One of the turning points was when Florida fought through a holding penalty and hit Milton to force an interception, which Devin Moore returned to the red zone to set up a score.

Napier said the Gators “spent extensive time in the offseason” thinking about stopping the Volunteers. That makes Saturday a payoff for the massive army of analysts and support staffers Napier hired and deploys.

He also credited the game plan of his first-year defensive coordinator, Austin Armstrong. That, too, reflects well on Napier. After fielding a historically bad defense last year, Napier chose not to abandon his general structure or scheme; he doubled down on it, replacing one young, mid-major coordinator (Patrick Toney) with another (Armstrong, from Southern Miss).

Through three games, the decision looks like a good one. Only three defenses have held Heupel to fewer than 17 points: the Georgia team that won it all last season, the Gators here two years ago and Armstrong’s unit on Saturday.

Napier savored the triumph for his entire organization, but gave a wry smile when asked what the performance meant for him personally. A defeat wouldn’t have put him on the hot seat, but the pressure would have spiked among a fan base not known for patience. National pundits were questioning his future before the game. Imagine what would have happened with an ugly loss at home.

Instead, Florida fans can wake up Sunday envisioning a brighter future. On a big recruiting weekend and in front of an ear-splitting home crowd, Napier finally delivered against the type of opponent his tenure will be judged on.

“It validates your plan,” Napier said.

And that’s enough to make even this even-keeled coach beam.

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