KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Florida football coach Billy Napier offered the reason why he chose not to go for a 2-point conversion to try to win in regulation on Saturday against Tennessee.
The Florida Gators (3-3, 1-2 SEC) trailed 17-16 when freshman quarterback DJ Lagway connected with Chimere Dike on a 29-yard TD pass with 27 seconds remaining.
Napier initially lined up to go for a 2-point conversion on a swinging gate formation, forcing Tennessee to burn a timeout. But after the timeout, Napier sent Trey Smack out to kick an extra point, and he connected to tie the score at 17.
We had a play that we felt good about and then obviously they burned their timeout,” Napier said. “And I think we felt from the 3 there, we were playing pretty good on both sides of our team at that point in time, so I felt like let’s go play overtime, give our guys a chance to play more plays. I thought defensively we kept ourselves in it. Wasn’t quite ready to do that at that point in time.”
In overtime, Florida lost four yards on its opening possession, forcing Smack to attempt a 46-yard field goal that he pushed wide right. Tennessee then drove 25 yards to win the game on a 1-yard TD run by Dylan Sampson.
Florida football coach Billy Napier on red zone struggles in first half
Napier said the illegal substitution penalty that wiped out a 42-yard field goal at the end of the half was the result of an injured player who failed to come off the field. He wouldn’t name the injured player.
It’s not about that,” Napier said. “It was a substitution error.”
On the fourth-and-inches play in which Eugene Wilson III was stopped for a 1-yard loss, Napier said it was a read-option play with Lagway out of the shotgun.
