Florida coach Billy Napier issued an apology and vowed consequences after his players celebrated their road win over rival Florida State on Saturday night by planting a Gators flag on the Seminoles logo at midfield.
A melee between the teams ensued after Florida edge rusher George Gumbs Jr. ran to the logo and planted the flag following Florida’s 31-11 win, marring an impressive performance that gave Napier his first win over the Seminoles in three tries.
“Obviously, what happened there at the end of the game is not who we want to be as a program,” Napier said. “It’s embarrassing to me, and it’s a distraction from a really well-played football game. I want to apologize on behalf of the entire organization just in terms of how we represented the university there. We shouldn’t have done that. We won’t do that moving forward. And there will be consequences for all involved.”
In video of the incident, Seminoles coach Mike Norvell could be seen snatching the flag from a Florida player. Norvell said he exchanged words with Napier about the incident following their postgame handshake.
“I told him what I thought,” Norvell said. “They won the game. They have the right to celebrate, just like we have in the previous years. It was just the way that we operate. And that’s fine; you want to come and do that, that is absolutely a decision you can have within a team.”
Florida (7-5), which began the season 3-3, wrapped up an impressive stretch to finish November, knocking off ranked opponents in LSU and Ole Miss before the win Saturday over the Seminoles (2-10).
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
