Florida Gators' In-State Opponent Trolling Billy Napier with Bold T-Shirt Move

For the Florida Gators and coach Billy Napier, the 2024 season couldn't have gotten off to a worse start. After spending the offseason hyping up the Gators' fanbase, promising them a much-improved team, they suffered a crushing 41-17 loss to the Miami (FL) Hurricanes in Week 1, making it feel like more of the same.

Napier was visibly frustrated after the embarrassing defeat, in which the Gators' defense allowed 529 yards and their offense converted just 1-of-9 third-down attempts. In a press conference following the loss, he seemed to direct his frustrations toward Florida fans who have been criticizing his performance.

“If we can focus on those things,” Napier said, referring to being more consistent and executing better, “and not what some guy in his basement in rural Central Florida is saying on social media, then we've got a chance to get better, right?”

The scathing comment from the third-year head coach, who is now 11-15 during his tenure at Florida, is unlikely to sit well with a Gators fanbase that had already lost its patience with him. With a daunting schedule ahead — minus Samford in Week 5 — it isn't going to get any easier, even when they face Big 12 opponent UCF in their fifth consecutive home game of the season on Oct. 5.

It seems the UCF NIL collective, The Kingdom, is already gearing up for the game. Taking inspiration from Napier's comments, they are selling "Rural Central Florida" T-shirts in what appears to be an effort to troll the Gators' coach.

NIL collectives are always looking for ways to incentivize fans to support their teams, and this is yet another creative strategy in doing so. It's a bold strategy, to say the least. 

When the Gators and Golden Knights meet in October, it will only be their fourth meeting. Florida leads the series 2-1, but the Golden Knights picked up a surprise 29-17 victory over the Gators in the 2021 Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa. Napier was hired shortly after.