The Florida Gators just suffered a huge upset loss early on this year’s college football season. On Saturday, Sept. 6, coach Billy Napier’s squad were defeated by their state rivals in coach Alex Golesh’s South Florida Bulls in their week two matchup of this year’s campaign by a tight two-point loss, 18-16, in the former’s home pitch.
This gives the Gators a subpar 1-1 record so far in the year, as the Bulls improve to a 2-0 record. Several in the college football world were surprised with the outcome, given that the Gators are an established team from the SEC who is currently nationally-ranked at No. 13.
UPSET IN GAINESVILLE‼️
South Florida takes down No. 13 Florida on the road 😱 pic.twitter.com/JmGT5Gqi3E
— ESPN (@espn) September 6, 2025
College football fans and spectators then didn’t hold back with their reactions over USF’s upset over UF on social media.
“UF paid USF 500K to lose at home,” one user claimed with a photo of renowned actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
“COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS THE BEST WHEN WE HAVE UPSETS LIKE THIS ☝️☝️☝️,” another user exclaimed with three pointing up emojis.
“Gainesville just turned into Painsville 😭🐊,” one fan wrote with emojis.
“SEC in shambles,” a user said.
Other users all over X/Twitter then proclaimed the Bulls to be higher of a team than they were originally expected to be as they take down an SEC powerhouse.
“Wasn’t an upset. USF should have been ranked above Florida before the season started. Napier has done nothing to warrant Florida being ranked that high,” one user explained.
“USF will be gator Chomping all the way home,” another user shared.
“Bro South Florida might be legit,” a user posted.
The Gators now turn their attention towards the LSU Tigers, who they will face in Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Saturday, Sept. 13. For the Bulls, their next game will be against the Miami Hurricanes on the same day.
Read More: Florida Football NFL Draft Picks and UDFAs: Track Every Gators’ Free Agent Signing
Billy Napier Is Reeling In The Loss As It Is Caused By Him And His Team
In a post-game article published on ESPN, quotes from Florida Gators coach Billy Napier’s post-game interview were shown, and in one instance, he was asked about the lapses his team had that gave the South Florida Bulls the opening to capitalize and win. Napier acknowledged these, but assured that they’ll prioritizing correcting these mistakes right on their next practice.
“We created it. We deserve it. If you play football like that, you’re going to be criticized. It comes with the territory, right? Only thing you can do is go get it fixed, and that’s what we’ll start working on,” Napier was quoted as saying.
Florida looks to improve on their standing from the 2024 season, now that they have started 1-1 early on the 2025 campaign thus far. Last year, they finished with an overall record of 8-5 (4-4 SEC).
Also Read: Florida 2025 Football Schedule: Ranking Every Gators’ Game This Fall
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