The Florida Gators did not get their season off on the best foot, getting destroyed by Miami at home in Week 1, but they bounced back nicely last week against an overwhelmed opponent in Samford with a 45-7 victory. In two starts, Florida has started two quarterbacks, due to QB1 Graham Mertz suffering from a concussion in Week 1. Mertz did not look good against the Hurricanes before his injury, but backup (and top freshman recruit) DJ Lagway lit up Samford for 456 yards and three touchdowns.
Now it seems, after contrasting performances, head coach Billy Napier plans to go with a two-QB approach and play both men in their upcoming contest against Texas A&M this weekend. He didn’t say who would start, but it was clear that both will see time. "That's where the gamesmanship is," Napier told reporters, per ESPN. "I don't want to put the playbook on the streets here. Ultimately [Lagway's] one of our better players. We're going to give him an opportunity to impact the game and contribute to the team. That's our intention."
Apparently this was always the plan, even though Lagway didn’t see a single snap in Week 1 against Miami. The Gators are listed as a 4.5-point home underdog against the Aggies at BetMGM.
My guess is that he didn’t like what he saw out of Mertz and wants to see what Lagway looks like against a real defense without outright naming him the new starter. Napier loves playing a most dangerous game, so he is on the tripwire here and I think everyone knows it. If the fans and media had their way, they would push him off the hot seat based on their reactions after that blowout loss a few weeks ago.
It is hard to handicap a team that uses two signal-callers, as we don’t see it happen very often. Obviously, I would not bet on any player props for the Gators until we know more about what it looks like. Perhaps this is all a ruse and Lagway will get a majority of the snaps, or vice-versa. The Aggies will present a serious challenge for either QB.
I’ll be interested to see where the money goes for this game. I would assume that most of the public will likely back Texas A&M because their opinion of the Gators is quite low at this point, and that was before they implemented this new strategy at the most important position on the field. I’d also probably look toward the under (46.5), but again, I will be waiting for more information before I make a wager.
Remember folks, if you want to be successful in this industry, you bet numbers and not teams. That philosophy doesn’t change due to a two-QB rotation.
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