Billy Napier’s UF climb will be much harder than Mike Norvell’s at FSU | Commentary

GAINESVILLE — Coach Mike Norvell’s climb is almost complete.

Norvell and his Florida State Seminoles have climbed to within one victory of the College Football Playoff and a chance to win the national championship.

And they did it Saturday night in a hostile Swamp against the rival Florida Gators and they did without their heart and soul — senior quarterback Jordan Travis.

Florida State 24, Florida 15.

Florida State found a way to win with backup QB Tate Rodemaker replacing Travis and completing just 12-of-25 passes for 134 yards and no touchdowns.

“Heart, resilience and overcoming adversity,” Norvell said of his team afterward.

Meanwhile, Florida found a way to lose despite seemingly being in control of the game in the first half and then gaining, er, losing minus-15 yards in the fourth quarter.

“We haven’t been able to finish; that’s the bottom line,” Florida coach Billy Napier said.

Gators fans can only hope Napier can somehow, some way revitalize his UF program much like Norvell has done at FSU.

It’s no secret that Florida State’s fans and administration showed patience and acceptance as Norvell went about the ugly process of rebuilding the Seminoles after the program’s rapid decay under former coaches Jimbo Fisher and Willie Taggart.

The question is will Florida fans and administrators have that same prudence and patience with Napier, whose Gators ended the season on a five-game losing streak and a third consecutive losing season — something that hasn’t happened at UF since the post-World War II era from 1945-1947.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I believe Gators fans are going to have to be even more patient with Napier because it will be a much more difficult task turning around the Gators in a rugged and expanding SEC than it’s been for Norvell in a weakened and watered-down ACC.

Norvell often refers to his rebuild at FSU as “The Climb” in reference to the arduous ascension from irrelevance and dysfunction to conference- and national-championship contention. I don’t know if Norvell got his inspiration for “The Climb” from the famous Miley Cyrus song by the same name, but it sure seems like some of his basic beliefs are the same as hers.

As Cyrus sings in her song:

“There’s always gonna be another mountain,
I’m always gonna wanna make it move,
Always gonna be an uphill battle,
Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose.”

No doubt about it, Norvell certainly got his taste of losing in his first two seasons at FSU. Who will ever forget the outcry from FSU fans in 2021 when the Seminoles lost to lower-division Jacksonville State in the second game of Norvell’s second season?

Even though Norvell would go on to finish with a second consecutive losing record that season and go 8-13 during his first two years in Tallahassee, FSU’s administration weathered the fan criticism. The result: Norvell won 10 games in Year 3 last season and now has the Seminoles 12-0 and likely ranked No. 4 in the next College Football Playoff ranking. If the Seminoles beat Louisville in next week’s ACC Championship Game, they will be playing for a national-championship berth for the first time in nearly a decade.

“I’m grateful to our administration,” Norvell said earlier this season. “We knew it was going to be a process, but we stayed true to the process. We continued to work to get better through the good days and bad days. As we grew our team with young players, we all had to go through it. As I told our players once, ‘Sometimes you have to go through it for the things you need to get through it.’ ”

Taking nothing away from Norvell’s rebuild, but he did it in an ACC that has been made much more forgiving by Clemson’s gradual decline. In fact, it should tell you something that four-loss Clemson is the only currently ranked conference opponent FSU has beaten this season whereas the Gators have played four currently ranked SEC teams.

The reason I bring this up is to point out that Napier’s rebuild will be much more demanding than Norvell’s. Napier and Norvell actually have similar two-year records (Napier 11-14, Norvell 8-13), but it seems extremely unlikely that Napier can come close to matching Norvell’s progress by winning 10 games in Year 3.

The challenge is increased because the SEC next season will expand to 16 teams by adding two traditional powerhouses in Texas and Oklahoma. Florida’s non-conference schedule next year is loaded with emotional in-state games against FSU (No. 5 in the country), Miami and UCF. Meanwhile, the conference road schedule includes games at Tennessee (No. 21), at Texas (No. 7), at Mississippi State and against Georgia (No. 1) in Jacksonville. In addition, the conference home schedule includes games against LSU (No. 14), Ole Miss (No. 12), Texas A&M and a Kentucky team that Saturday beat Louisville.

I don’t think Napier has to win 10 games next season to keep the vultures from circling, but going at least 7-5 with a team that plays smart, sound football would be helpful. Too many times this season, the Gators have looked discombobulated, confused, undisciplined and sometimes even inept.

We saw it again in the fourth quarter on Saturday night, when on a third-and-14, Rodemaker scrambled for 10 yards and, as he was sliding, was temporarily knocked out of the game by Florida’s Jaydon Hill, who was called for targeting and ejected from the game. The penalty allowed FSU’s drive to continue and the Seminoles ended up scoring the game-clinching touchdown.

Earlier in the game, with the Gators leading 12-0, FSU was at its own 26 when Florida’ s Jamari Lyons drew an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty and was ejected for spitting on an FSU offensive lineman. Momentum completely shifted and the Seminoles drove to their first touchdown.

“I think we realized this (rebuilding) was going to be a challenge,” Napier said. “We’re in the middle of that process.”

Unfortunately for Napier, football fans aren’t as patient about “The Climb” as Miley Cyrus is.

As she sings in her song:

“Ain’t about how fast I get there,
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side,
It’s the climb.”

Sorry, Miley, but in college football, it is about how fast you get there.

Norvell got there relatively quickly but, comparatively speaking, he was climbing Mount Molehill.

Napier is attempting to scale Mount Everest.

Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on X (formerly Twitter) @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9:30 a.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com/listen