Not if he wasn't sure he could stop you. UF has not been very good in several years, since they won the East with Mullen. For a Florida team they have been slow, not just UF but any Florida team and soft. UF's S&C program should have been embarrassed by some of those DL that wobbled on the field, they were done at half time. Were the chances of getting 3 and out much better than getting a 1st?
Again, Napier went against the odds.
Certain he could stop us?
At the 8:00 minute mark we held a 23-16 lead. Fourteen of those 23 points were provided by a pick six, and another interception by our DE, who returned the ball inside Florida’s 10 yard line. In other words, UF’s offense (and our defense) had been our most effective mode of producing points.
And our offense struggled, finishing 4-14 in Third down conversions, 0-1 in fourth down conversions. Both offenses produced well under 300 total offensive yards for the game, our ground game averaging 1.5 yards per attempt.
So with 8 minutes to go, having his own offense struggling to complete a pass to a player wearing the right uniform, Billy chose to roll the dice using his offense against a defense that had already provided the scoring margin for Kentucky’s touchdown lead.
“We’re the chances of getting a 3 and out much better than getting a first?”
Well, that ignores field position: even had they gotten a first down on either attempt, they were still behind the 50 yard line. Billy asked his offense to do what neither team had managed consistently during the game: make successive first downs.
Inversely, had he punted, it isn’t a simple question of getting a single 3 and out. He could have pinned UK’s offense inside the 15 yard line with more than 8 minutes to go . . . meaning UK would have had to have had successive first downs just to get into field goal range.
By going for it (both times) inside his own territory, Billy left UK in field goal range from their first play from scrimmage. We actually missed a field goal with about 5 minutes to go, but took advantage of Billy’s 2nd field position largess, hitting a field goal to put the lead to 10 points, hence essentially insurmountable.
Again, one of the strangest 4th quarters I have witnessed in 50 plus years of playing/coaching and watching football.