GAINESVILLE, Fla. — With Florida’s home loss to USF hovering over the program, the Gators returned to practice Monday and turned their attention to Saturday’s showdown at No. 3 LSU in the Southeastern Conference opener for both schools.

UF head coach Billy Napier addressed the media Monday afternoon, eager to see how his team comes away from the 18-16 loss to the Bulls that dropped the No. 13 Gators out of the AP Top 25 this week.

“There’s certain emotions that come with getting beat that can go both ways,” Napier said. “I’m anxious to see this group and how we are going to respond. It’s not just me; it’s the organization as a whole. It’s the leadership, and for all the new players, there’s got to be some examples set by the veteran players. So far, so good, but you don’t know until you play again.”

Napier covered several topics of interest in the wake of the Gators’ first home loss to a state school other than Florida State or Miami since losing to Stetson in 1938.

Here are the most notable:

— Napier said sophomore defensive lineman LJ McCray, who made his season debut against the Bulls before leaving the game, suffered a broken foot. McCray will have surgery and be sidelined for an extended period, according to Napier.

— Defensive lineman Brendan Bett, who was ejected in the fourth quarter for spitting on a USF player, met with Napier on Sunday to discuss the incident. Napier said he has not made a final decision on whether Bett would be suspended for the LSU game.

“I think that the kid is remorseful,” Napier said. “He feels as if he let the team down. It was out of character for him. He made a mistake, and he compromised the team. He made a selfish decision. He misrepresented our fans, our alumni, the university. When a young man comes into your office and his immediate concern is how he didn’t represent this place the right way, I think that’s a good indication of his attitude towards it. There’ll be some internal discipline. Obviously, he was (ejected), and he’ll have an opportunity today to apologize to the team, and he’s going to apologize publicly. We’re even having him reach out to the young man on the other team. So no stone unturned here in terms of maximizing this for him to learn and also for our other players to see how to take ownership of a mistake and go about this the right way.”

— Napier remains adamant that the Gators can bounce back despite the doubts that were raised by the loss to USF. Florida entered the game as a 17.5-point favorite.

“We have work to do in front of us,” he said. “We have a lot of football ahead. There’s no scenario where you’re not going to be criticized when you lose like that. We understand that. I think it’s part of it. I think the key is that we take ownership. We don’t make excuses. We’re solution-oriented. We stick together, and we work on our plan to improve and get better in some of those areas. We’re gonna find out.”

You can watch Napier’s entere press conference below:

 

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