Florida’s path to rumored ideal replacement for Billy Napier has never been clearer

It may be en vogue to dump on Billy Napier, but let's at least let the men coach out the rest of the season in Florida before moving on from him as the Gators head coach. Florida is 3-3 (1-2) on the season with wins over Samford, Mississippi State and UCF, but has already lost to Miami, Texas A&M and Tennessee. All three of the team's losses are to teams who could make the expanded playoff.

Mathematically, Florida is probably the only team in the country that could conceivably make the playoff with an 8-4 record. The Gators' schedule is brutal, but even with potential upset bids on the horizon with Georgia, Ole Miss, LSU or even Texas, none of that will matter if Florida loses to rival Kentucky in Week 8. Basically, Napier needs to get this team to a bowl game to have any hope left.

So as people are starting to figure out who could conceivably replace him, the most obvious fit could be opening up sooner than you would think. That would be Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin. The Rebels are 5-2 on the season, but have a pair of conference losses already to Kentucky and LSU. This was a College Football Playoff or bust season for Ole Miss. It is his players who have let him down...

I don't know when the exit date would be, hopefully after the Egg Bowl, but Kiffin could come to UF.

Billy Napier's replacement could be on his way by very early December

The idea behind hiring Kiffin is we have seen him win at a high clip in the SEC before. Look at what he has done since taking over at Ole Miss since 2020. While the Rebels have never been to Atlanta, they have been a New Year's Six team on multiple occasions under his watch. Keep in mind that being New Year's Six-caliber only a year ago means you will be College Football Playoff-caliber moving forward.

I remember speaking to my FanSided.com colleague and False Start co-host Cody Williams about this a few weeks back. He felt strongly that Ole Miss' brutal home defeat to Kentucky was a program-defining loss for Ole Miss. I tend to agree with that notion. When everything should be in your favor at Ole Miss, the Rebels will still find a way to lose to Kentucky during Homecoming. It was very revealing.

While I think Ole Miss is the better job, as in they are not going to fire you if you go 10-2 every year, maybe Ole Miss is not capable of winning a national championship in its current form? At least with Florida, you know that with the right head coach and collection of players in state, anything is possible. Florida will chew up and spit out head coaches, but Kiffin could be ready to move on soon.

Although I would be careful about firing Napier prematurely, as he could just as easily find his way onto Kirby Smart or Steve Sarkisian's staffs (he does stem from the Nick Saban coaching tree), Kiffin is the type of head coach athletic director Scott Stricklin could go for broke over. I don't know if SEC rivals will fear Florida with Kiffin coaching the Gators, but he would certainly win games there.

If Napier is toast and Ole Miss is out of it, I would not be the least bit shocked if this were to happen.