Florida AD Scott Stricklin stunned the college football world (and briefly set SEC Twitter on fire) this week, officially removing embattled head football coach Billy Napier from the hot seat and ensuring he would be back in Gainesville for at least one more season.

It was a huge vote of confidence, and a leap of faith: in the progress the team has made in recent weeks, winning three out of five and placing two teams in the top 10 in Tennessee and Georgia ; In Freshman QB DJ Lagwaythe five-star phenom Napier recruited from the swamp; and in Napier’s ability to continue to develop its significant group of young talents. Of course, Napier’s tenure had not started as the school had envisioned. But there are signs of improvement, and sometimes the grass isn’t always greener. You could almost convince yourself to make a decision that was unthinkable a few weeks ago.

Well, you could do it for at least a few days. If Stricklin’s decision earned Napier some goodwill, he quickly threw a flamethrower Saturday afternoon, as his Gators team responded to the news that they had saved their coach’s job by organizing arguably their worst half of the season against Texas. .

Certainly, some context is needed here. Texas and Steve Sarkisian are still lethal after a pass, and Lagway’s hamstring injury forced redshirt freshman Aidan Warner to make his first career start. Regardless, Napier and the Gators were going to have their work cut out for them.

However, this is not an excuse to simply how bad Florida was looking to start this game. Florida failed to take advantage of a few near-INTs against Quinn Ewers early, then allowed Texas to convert a 4th-and-1 from its own 24 en route to the opening score. They then turned the ball over twice while allowing Ewers to throw for over 250 yards and four scores, trailing 35-0 at the break. Oh, and Warner came out of the locker room and immediately threw a pick to start the third quarter. It was as bad a start as it could be, and Florida fans were feeling…not great about the future.