Three touchdowns.
The Florida Gators have found the endzone just three times in their last three games. And there's no sugarcoating it — Florida’s leaders have said the offense sorely needs change.
Following the Gators’ 26-7 loss to Miami on Sept. 20, Gators quarterback DJ Lagway guaranteed progress is looming for Florida’s offense and the team as a whole.
“I’m going to demand greatness from everybody,” Lagway said. “We’re done with the playing around stuff. It’s time to get serious, and it starts with me.”
Following an offseason where Lagway dealt with three separate injuries, he couldn’t compete in 11-on-11 drills until two weeks before the season started. The lack of practice has evidently affected his product on the field.
He currently has more interceptions (6) than he does touchdowns this season (5) and totaled just 61 passing yards against Miami.
Across their last three games, the Gators averaged 11 points and are 11-42 on third-down conversions. In its last two games on the road, the UF offense averaged less than 3 yards per carry and just over 4 yards on passing plays. Making matters worse, 21 penalties have cost Florida 180 yards across its most recent three contests this season.
The Gators totaled less than 150 yards of offense in their loss to Miami and churned only 4 rushing yards in the first half. Additionally, they punted in each of their first six drives.
Flustered by a third straight loss — this one without gaining a single first down — Lagway spoke up about the adversity his team faced this season and the lead he’s going to take to initiate change.
“I’m not going to sit here and lie to you all and make this seem like this is OK,” he said. “This isn’t OK. We’ve got to play better football.”
Florida did find success on offense midway through the third quarter, sparked by 33 rushing yards from redshirt senior Ja’Kobi Jackson and 29 from sophomore Jadan Baugh. The 80-yard drive was wrapped up by a 7-yard rushing touchdown by Baugh to make it 13-7 in the fourth quarter. However, the Gators turned the ball over on downs three times and punted once in its final four possessions, capping a rough offensive showing.
Head coach Billy Napier made it clear he was frustrated after the game. He pointed out Florida’s lack of rhythm on offense — particularly highlighting how it went 0-13 on third down and averaged a measly 2.7 yards per play.
“We're lacking consistency, we're lacking detail and we're struggling to stack plays,” Napier said. “We've got to generate some points. We've got to get more first downs. We've got to find some rhythm on offense. That's the bottom line.”
He said a quarterback’s performance is typically tied to the other players around him: If Lagway played poorly, the rest of the team likely did, too.
Lagway finished 12-23 on passing attempts, though Napier was adamant the sophomore was not to shoulder the blame of Florida’s worst start (1-3) since 1986. He said that every position is contributing to the team’s issues.
Although Lagway posted the lowest passing line in his career, Napier expressed confidence that the program can turn it around, citing the team’s composition and each individual’s capabilities as key factors that give him faith in a bounce back.
“The makeup of the group is what gives me confidence,” Napier said. “We got to do our best from a leadership standpoint and coaching standpoint with each group.”
Lagway also expressed confidence in Florida’s coaching and his teammates’ abilities. He credited Napier for putting the Gators in positions to succeed, emphasizing the team must capitalize on these opportunities and take it upon itself to execute UF’s style of play.
“Once we start executing, things are going to fall in line,” Lagway said. “At the end of the day, if we executed and played our brand of football, things would have fell in line. But we didn’t.”
Despite the troubles his quarterback has faced through four games this season, Napier is insistent that the Gators respect Lagway as a person, leader and competitor.
“He’s had a unique offseason, and he’s battling his tail off to try to do this job for his teammates,” Napier said. “The team rallied around him this week … they know what he’s been through.”
Contact Curan Ahern at cahern@alligator.org. Follow him on X at @CuranAhern.
Curan is a third-year journalism-sports & media major who currently serves as the football beat reporter for The Alligator, now in his third semester with the paper. When not at his computer screen writing, Curan enjoys spending time outdoors, hanging with friends, family and pets, and watching the Patriots lose (no, he doesn't miss Brady).
