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Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier just say a big yes to 12-years contract to…

Florida boils, LSU exhales, Florida State fumes and Georgia squirms after Week 3.

What had been billed as one of the lamest weeks of the college football season overdelivered the drama.

Brian Kelly experienced sweet relief only after South Carolina missed a last-second field goal. Florida fans fantasize about dream coaching candidates – “make Urban say no!” – after Billy Napier’s latest flop. And Kentucky celebrated another moral victory against Georgia, also known as the Mark Stoops special.

Well, maybe one element remains left to determine: Who will hire Napier’s replacement? Athletics director Scott Stricklin hired (and fired) Dan Mullen and replaced him with Napier. He’s squandered the right to lead this coaching search.

When Florida fires Napier, he’ll become the fourth consecutive Gators coach to be axed before the end of his fourth season. Stricklin argued before the season that Florida can’t keep cycling through coaches at this rate. True. So, get the next hire right. The only thing worse than firing Napier in Year 3 and paying him a buyout of more than $25 million would be sticking with a hopeless coach for a fourth season that no Florida fan wants to pay to see. It’s over.

Where should Florida turn after Napier? Lane Kiffin fits the bill, but his Ole Miss Rebels are on the shortlist of national championship contenders. Kiffin has no reason to leave. Eliah Drinkwitz (Missouri), Jedd Fisch (Washington), Alex Golesh (South Florida) and Lance Leipold (Kansas) form my next tier.

Not yet. LSU awarded Kelly a 10-year contract worth mega-millions to plunder him from Notre Dame. That means a couple of things:

No. 1, LSU expects more from Kelly than Saturday’s stressful, mistake-filled 36-33 victory at South Carolina.

Kelly had hoped to position LSU into national championship contention by his third season. He’s fallen short of that aspiration. The Tigers perhaps will develop into a playoff contender, but they’re too undisciplined, too soft on defense and not well-rounded enough on offense to be considered among the elite.

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