Texas A&M wraps up a three-game homestand Saturday night as they host the Florida Gators and look to stay undefeated. We’ll tell you more this week about our thoughts, but first, we wanted to hear how the other side is feeling. For that, we reached out to Dave Waters at Gators Breakdown to answer a few questions.
Good Bull Hunting: First of all, thank you for that joyous hate-watch last Saturday. How are the Florida faithful feeling following that upset win at The Swamp?
Dave Waters: For the first time this season, Gator Nation could truly enjoy a game. Florida entered the Texas matchup with a disappointing 1-3 record, with conversations dominated by Billy
Napier’s hot seat status and offensive struggles. What was once billed as a high-profile preseason matchup had lost much of its hype due to Florida’s poor performance. However, on game day, fans set aside their concerns for three and a half hours to cheer on players from both offense and defense during the upset victory. Looking at the bigger picture, many fans are now questioning why this level of performance hadn’t appeared earlier in the season—ironically adding to the frustration with Coach Napier rather than alleviating it.
GBH: I’d imagine after that 1-3 start, this team/staff have very little margin for error. How wildly do you think fan expectations (and Napier hot seat chatter) may swing based on the game at Kyle Field?
DW: Most of the fanbase is already ready to move on from Napier. Many fans aren’t expecting much this weekend for two reasons: they haven’t forgotten the bad start to the season, and Florida has struggled significantly on the road under Napier, especially against good teams. Last week’s win over Texas likely bought Napier a couple more weeks of grace from the administration, regardless of what happens against the Aggies this Saturday. The fans understand this reality. Whether Florida wins or loses this Saturday, Napier still likely needs to beat Mississippi State next week at home to ensure he gets a chance to turn the season around.
GBH: The Florida offense looked like a completely different unit last week compared to what we had seen thus far this season. Is that something clicking with Lagway? The Dallas Wilson effect? Something they changed schematically? All of it??? NONE OF IT?!?!
DW: The main improvement was the offensive line finally playing up to its potential. With four of five starters returning from last season, this group had previously underperformed expectations. Their solid performance allowed the coaching staff to confidently stick with Jadan Baugh in the run game, which gradually drew the Texas secondary closer to the line of scrimmage. This created opportunities for big plays downfield. While Lagway definitely showed improvement and Dallas Wilson made a spectacular debut, none of this would have been possible without the offensive line giving Lagway adequate time to throw deep passes.
GBH: Beyond Lagway/Wilson, any other offensive names A&M fans should know for the Gators?
DW: Have to go with running back Jadan Baugh and wide receiver Vernell Brown III. With Ja’Kobi Jackson out, Baugh logged career highs in carries (27) and rushing yards (107), his third career 100-yard game. He averaged 4.0 yards per carry and scored UF’s first touchdown.
Throughout the first four games of the season, fans increasingly called for sophomore running back Jadan Baugh to receive more carries. His busiest game came against USF, where he rushed 18 times for 93 yards.
In subsequent weeks, Florida adopted a committee approach in the backfield, with Baugh getting just 10 carries against LSU and 12 against Miami. When redshirt senior Ja’Kobi Jackson was sidelined with an undisclosed injury for Saturday’s game against the Longhorns, Baugh and freshman Duke Clark became the Gators’ primary rushers. This gave Baugh his heaviest workload yet in his Florida career.
Brown played 35 snaps against Texas with impressive results. He recorded three catches for 72 yards—including a spectacular 60-yard reception in the third quarter—and added a crucial 14-yard run. He now owns two of college football’s best catches this season, with the 60-yarder standing as Florida’s longest play of the year. Through five games, Brown has accumulated 21 catches for 291 yards (long of 60), one rush for 14 yards, eight punt returns for 131 yards (long of 40), and six kickoff returns for 96 yards.
GBH: Florida’s defense has been quite stout statistically this year. What in particular do they excel at and who are the standout players A&M fans should know?
DW: The defense is coming off their best performance of the season against Texas, particularly up front. The pass rush, which had been lacking until that point, sacked Arch Manning six times and pressured him throughout the game. They also held Texas running backs to just 15 yards. This impressive performance came despite the absence of star DL Caleb Banks, who is out for the season, showcasing the team’s strong defensive depth.
Florida’s defense has been especially effective at starting strong. They’ve held opponents scoreless on their first drive in 12 of the past 13 games and haven’t allowed any first-quarter points in eight of their last nine contests.
Sophomore linebacker Myles Graham stands out as the best player on defense. He has started all five games of the 2025 campaign and leads the Gators with 29 tackles (15 solo). Graham has penetrated opposing backfields nine times, resulting in six QB hurries and 2.5 tackles-for-loss. He’s also recorded two pass breakups this season in coverage. Graham consistently finds himself in the right position and demonstrates remarkable versatility. Expect him to spy Marcel Reed at times on Saturday night.
Senior Devin Moore is another defensive standout. In 15 total targets this season, he’s allowed only seven catches while adding two pass breakups and an interception. Against Texas, Moore recorded his first career sack and fourth career interception on the same drive. While Moore has struggled with injuries throughout his career, he’s a significant asset when healthy. He’s already approaching his career-high in snaps (154) from last season, needing just 50 more to surpass it.
GBH: Amazingly, this is the fourth time Florida has made the trip to Kyle Field, going 2-1 in those games. How do you think they deal with what should be a raucous environment on Saturday night after stumbling in road losses to LSU and Miami?
DW: Based on history, I don’t expect them to handle it well. As I mentioned, Napier’s teams have consistently struggled on the road. Through his first four seasons as head coach, he’s secured only four road wins: 2022 at Texas A&M, 2023 at South Carolina, and last season’s victories at Mississippi State and Florida State. Notably, none of these teams finished with winning records—meaning Napier has yet to defeat a quality opponent away from home. The hope is that the recent experiences at LSU and Miami have taught this team valuable lessons about playing on the road. The timing is ideal, coming off their strongest performance of the season last week against Texas, even though it was at home.
GBH: Give me your official game prediction, and how you see this one playing out.
DW: I need to see it to believe that Florida has fixed all their issues from the first month of the season and can finally beat a quality team on the road. While the team may have found their offensive identity and their defense should perform well away from home, I expect road mistakes will ultimately lead to a 31-24 victory for the Aggies.
