Another weekend, another big name is out of a job. The first domino to fall this weekend was Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier. He leaves Gainesville with a sub-.500 record midway through his fourth season on the job. He is now the sixth Power Four head caoch to be relieved of his duties this season. We are not even to Halloween yet... All the while, Luke Fickell gets to stay leading Wisconsin.
As Napier joins the likes of DeShaun Foster, Brent Pry, Mike Gundy, Sam Pittman and James Franklin in the unemployment line, at least he was able to sort of go out on top. Yes, Napier was fired after beating the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Saturday evening, 23-21. That was Florida's third win of the season. The other two came against LIU and Texas. Florida lost to USF, Miami, LSU, and Texas A&M.
So what does this mean for Fickell? Well, he looks as stupid as the Wisconsin adminstration does. The man has lost five games in a row at Wisconsin, all to Power Four competition. His last four losses have all been to Big Ten teams. Whether it be Alabama, Maryland, Michigan, Iowa or Ohio State, Fickell has no remote clue how to beat a Power Four team anymore. Heck, he cannot even score any points?!
The pressure mounted to get Napier out of Florida, but why is Wisconsin such an embarrassment?
Billy Napier was fired, yet Luke Fickell is still the head coach at Wisconsin
Love 'em or hate 'em, at least Florida has some level of pride. The Gators had an equally difficult schedule this season as Wisconsin, but they did not go down without a fight. Florida still has to play Georgia, Ole Miss and Tennessee in the final five games of its season. Wisconsin has three ranked opponents left in Oregon, Indiana and Illinois. Washington and Minnesota both have five wins, too.
What is important to understand here is the horrendous product on the field for Wisconsin is still somewhat more palatable than Florida beating Mississippi State at home by two points. Wisconsin has been shut out in back-to-back games by a combined 71 points. Outside of maybe Oklahoma State and Boston College, is there a worse team in the Power Four than the Wisconsin Badgers now?
To tie a bow on this, Florida has reasonable expectations for its football program. Florida is a school where you can win national titles at. At Wisconsin, previous head coaches have shown this program can compete for playoff berths. This was a top-four team in the Big Ten prior to the latest wave of realignment. Now there are a full 17 teams in the Big Ten who are definitively better than then of late.
The fact Napier got fired after a win, while Fickell continues to be employed not to score is deplorable.