Florida wasn’t always sure it was going to win enough games to become bowl-eligible.
Tulane flirted with the possibility of playing its way into the College Football Playoff.
Eventually a late-season surge by the Gators (7-5) and consecutive losses by the Green Wave (9-4) landed them both in the Gasparilla Bowl on Friday in Tampa.
Florida, which failed to make a bowl game at 5-7 last season, dropped two of its first three games this year, falling to then-No. 19 Miami and Texas A&M. The results led to early-season speculation that third-year coach Billy Napier might not make it to the end of the season, let alone coach a fourth season.
However, when the Gators reached 4-4 after being competitive in losses to then-No. 8 Tennessee and then-No. 2 Georgia, athletic director Scott Stricklin said Napier would continue as head coach.
After losing the next game to then-No. 5 Texas, the Gators improved over the final three games behind freshman quarterback DJ Lagway. Florida swept those three contests, defeating then-No. 21 LSU 27-16, then-No. 9 Ole Miss 24-17 and Florida State 31-11.
“We want to keep the momentum we have,” Napier said.
Lagway, who is 5-1 as a starter and has passed for 1,610 yards with 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions, is expected to start against Tulane. He has been hampered by a hamstring injury sustained against Georgia on Nov. 2, an injury that kept him out against the Longhorns.
Napier doesn’t expect a significant number of absences due to opt-outs.
“We talk a lot in terms of, it doesn’t matter who the opponent is, where we’re playing, what time we’re playing, who’s available,” Napier said. “It’s kind of become part of our DNA. When they put the ball down and kick the thing off, we’ll be ready to go.”
Tulane, which won eight consecutive games before losing 34-24 at home to Memphis on Nov. 28 and 35-14 at Army in the American Athletic Conference championship game on Dec. 6, hasn’t been as fortunate with its quarterback situation.
Redshirt freshman Darian Mensah, who unexpectedly won the starting position during preseason camp and helped lead the Green Wave to as high as the No. 17 spot in the CFP rankings, entered the transfer portal after the loss to Army and committed to Duke.
Kai Horton also departed through the portal, leaving former Oregon five-star signee Ty Thompson as the starter and only experienced quarterback for the bowl game. This will be his first college start, but he did play in 11 games this season as a wildcat change of pace to Mensah.
Thompson averaged 6.1 yards on 40 rushes, scoring six touchdowns, and completed 6 of 11 passes for 74 yards and two touchdowns without an interception.
“I’m really, really blessed for this opportunity,” Thompson said. “I’ve prayed for this since I was 17 and showed up in college.”
Thompson has indicated he might leave via the portal as well, but he is sticking around to face the Gators.
“His response (to not winning the starting job) says a lot about who he is,” Tulane coach Jon Sumrall said of Thompson. “He wanted to be the guy and wasn’t, so he could have either tanked it or pushed on to get better. He really handled it the right way.”
Thompson figures to have top receiver Mario Williams and top rusher Makhi Hughes available.
–Field Level Media
