UCF collective pokes fun at Napier’s postgame remarks with ‘rural

• Eli Lederman, ESPN Staff WriterSep 3, 2024, 09:33 PM ET Close Eli Lederman covers college football and recruiting for ESPN.com. He joined ESPN in 2024 after covering the University of Oklahoma for Sellout Crowd and the Tulsa World.Fresh off the

Florida Gators’ 41-17 defeat to the Miami Hurricanes in Week 1, Gators coach Billy Napier drew even more analysis Saturday afternoon when he pointed out “rural central Florida” in his postgame news conference. Now, one of Florida’s in-state rivals is taking advantage of the gaffe.Editor’s Picks

1 Associated On Tuesday early morning, UCF’s The Kingdom collective released a tee shirt with the words “RURAL CENTRAL FLORIDA” printed throughout the front. Introduced in 2022, The Kingdom is the main NIL cumulative of UCF sports. It will offer the t-shirts for $25 each with a part of the earnings going directly to the program’s NIL fund.We like the rural part of Central Florida https://t.co/dqD3hNi9sH https://t.co/MXUuDA1vbU pic.twitter.com/xcgnxpXA5x!.?.!— The Kingdom NIL (@KingdomNIL)September 3, 2024 The clothing shows up as a direct dig at Napier’s postgame comments following Saturday’s loss.With Napier under pressure in his 3rd season at Florida, the Gators opened with a dismal Week 1 performance, fading after halftime and getting simply 261 lawns of total offense in the 24-point defeat to the in-state competing Hurricanes. Speaking to press reporters afterward, Napier made a pointed regional reference as part of a longer respond to concentrated on the value of neglecting outdoors sound and flushing the feelings of the season-opening beat down.”Something I can say is that we have a group that’s working hard,” Napier said.”I do believe that we have character. We have to go to work on the football part.

And I think we need to end up being a more consistent group, and we need to carry out much better.”If we can concentrate on those things and not always what some guy in his basement is saying in rural Central Florida on social media, then we got a possibility to get better.

“Napier’s remarks– and the t-shirts they prompted– are sure to go back to the surface area again next month when UCF sees Florida on Oct. 5. In the meantime, Florida hosts the Samford Bulldogs at 7 p.m. ET in Week 2, while UCF gets a check out from the Sam Houston State Bearkats Saturday night(6:30 p.m. ET).