A pair of threes was no winning hand for Billy Napier's Gators | KEN WILLIS

When things don’t work out with a Florida Gators coaching hire, and when the end finally comes for the tenure, you can always look back at one specific instance and say, “Yep, that’s when we should’ve known …”

Most recently, three years back in the Missouri game, Dan Mullen lost control and threw gas on a fire that included a Tigers-Gators mini-brawl at the end of the first half. The Gators began a six-game win streak that night, but things unraveled at season’s end and Mullen didn’t navigate disappointments very well — a trait he’d signaled in the Mizzou game.

With the wild nature of today’s college game, where entire rosters — and the trajectory of programs — can be overturned with quality maneuvering of the roster (check the goings-on in Boulder), things can change and, who knows, they just might for Billy Napier and his floundering Florida Gators.

But if they don’t, bookmark 9:29 of the second quarter in last Thursday’s loss at Utah. The everlasting words, this time, came from the referee.

“Equipment violation for the defense. There were two number threes on the field for the Florida team.”

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With 100-plus players on college rosters, numbers are shared. But not by two players who might see the field together. Well, not usually.

It happened on a Utah punt and the Gator gaffe allowed a Utes possession to continue. You know the rest of the story.

As for the other clip-and-save comment from the current Gainesville slump, it came from Napier during his Monday media gathering. Losing an opener, or just losing in general, obviously isn’t acceptable to the fan base of a decorated college football franchise, and the Head Gator suggests he feels the same.

“I’m committed to not getting used to it,” he said.

Sounds like a natural thing to say to an angry fan base. And while bright sides are fleeting right now, there’s this for Billy.

In places like Gainesville, if things don’t improve and improve in a hurry, they don’t give you a chance to get used to it.

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Rank & File

The ranking of Florida’s seven big-league college football programs, based on results versus expectations, current trends, and snide asides from Billy Napier’s barber …

1. FSU (1-0). This week: Southern Miss at home. The start of a season hasn’t brought this much optimism since … since … oh, since last year, when the ’Noles won their first four before losing their next three. So while that might not have been an official “statement win” over LSU, we can call it a throat-clearer. The pick: ’Noles by 24.

2. UCF (1-0). This week: At Boise State. The Knights won last week, as expected, while the Broncos lost on the road at 10th-ranked Washington — also expected. We’ve also come to expect 10-plus wins from Boise every year, and those things don’t often include two-game losing streaks. The pick: Broncs by 4..

3. Miami (1-0). This week: Texas A&M at home. Surely, this is the make-or-break season for Jimbo Fisher as Head Aggie, and this game feels like a must-win. Lose this one, it seems his fate is sealed. But we have to string this along much farther, right? The pick: Aggies by 8.

4. FAU (1-0). This week: Ohio U at home. The Owls are traversing the Colonial, MAC, ACC and Big Ten before finally starting its American Conference duties in Week 5. Things get tougher soon. The pick: Owls by 6.

5. Florida (0-1). This week: McNeese at home. Going back to last November, UF’s losing streak is at four. Right now, the only available good news: It won’t reach five. The pick: Gators by 28.

6. FIU (1-1). This week:  North Texas at home. Keyone Jenkins is FIU’s freshman QB, fresh off leading Miami Central to a fourth straight state title. He’s looking quite promising, and in today’s game, you have to wonder how long the Panthers can keep him. The pick: Mean Green by 9.

7. USF (0-1). This week: Florida A&M at home. Bet you didn’t know Alabama comes to Tampa next week to play the Bulls. Enjoy this one. The pick: Bulls by 21.

The (other) Picks

Of all the things to love about college football, occasional pettiness ranks rather high. Usually, it involves fan bases, sometimes coaches, but this time it’s the athletic directors of Texas and Alabama.

Last year, when ’Bama went to Austin for Year 1 of this two-year home-and-home series, the Tide’s visiting-team ticket allotment was reserved for the upper deck of UT’s Memorial Stadium. So, guess where visiting Longhorn fans are sitting Saturday at Bryant-Denny.

Bring a windbreaker, Tex, it gets chilly at elevation — ’Bama by 12.

Elsewhere: Wake beats Vandy; Georgia by 56 over Ball State; Notre Dame by 12 over N.C. State; Colorado over Nebraska; Virginia Tech by 9 over Purdue; Oregon over Texas Tech; Ole Miss over Tulane; Iowa beats Iowa State by 14; Wisconsin over Washington State; Auburn over Cal; and just outside the Middle of Nowhere, Minnesota, in St. Bonafacius, the visiting Simpson Storm, alma mater of George Washington Carver, by 3 over the Crown Polars.

BTW: We think of Carver (or at least we should) every time we buy a steaming bag of boiled peanuts, make a peanut butter-n-banana sandwich, or simply toss back a handful of the tasty legumes.

The original George W was actually studying art at Iowa’s Simpson College when an instructor marveled at his painting of plants and flowers — “You’re nuts if you don’t get on over to Ames and study botany at the big university,” she said … or something like that.

BTW II: He was actually just George Carver, but there was another George Carver in town who kept getting his mail, so he took on the middle initial W, and when asked what it stood for, he must’ve realized how easy it would be for future history students to remember the name  George Washington Carver.

— Reach Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Billy Napier, Florida Gators lose with a pair of threes