Thanks to 60 minutes of bad football in Baton Rouge, Florida's efforts to replace fired head coach Billy Napier switched from a search to a competition. LSU fired its head coach, Brian Kelly, after the Tigers lost to Texas A&M 49-25 in Tiger Stadium on Saturday night.

Now, UF and its Athletic Director Scott Stricklin have serious competition to secure the best candidate. Immediately, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin was tabbed as the top target for LSU, exactly as he has been for the Gators since parting ways with Billy Napier just over one week ago.

The candidate lists bandied about in the early hours after Kelly's firing all looked similar to the ones UF experts have put together. Kiffin is at the top of them all, followed by options such as Missouri's Eli Drinkwitz, Vanderbilt's Clark Lea, Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman, and Tulane's Jon Sumrall.

For all of last week, Gainesville was the best available destination for coaches with experience in the SEC footprint. Now? Well, it depends on the candidate, but there is a growing consensus among those in the industry that Florida is fighting for second place.

"LSU is now the best job open this cycle," national college football reporter and former Gators offensive lineman Andy Staples posted on X. 

Nicole Auerbach of NBC Sports has been keeping a running ranking of the best available open FBS jobs. Florida dropped to No. 3 in this week's updated list, with LSU and Penn State, in that order, leading the Gators.

Brandon Walker, a college football personality for Barstool Sports, put it the most bluntly: "Florida was the best available job for six days."

With a certain coach in Oxford seemingly topping the wish list for the two SEC schools, Staples had a likely prescient follow-up: "Lane Kiffin is about to milk the Ole Miss/Florida/LSU thing for SO much money."

That brings up another point: hiring Napier's replacement probably just got even more expensive. Now, Stricklin isn't just bidding against the school where a candidate is currently employed. He's also potentially bidding against LSU, a program that won't hesitate to spend big.

The Tigers spent tens of millions to hire Kelly from Notre Dame four years ago, and they're paying him tens of millions more ($50 million+) to clean out his office before his fourth season is even finished. They aren't going to follow that up by going cheap on getting Kelly's replacement.

Then comes the argument over which destination is better. LSU and UF are unquestionably two of the handful of elite jobs in the country. However, LSU does have some advantages.

For starters, there is no in-state competition in Louisiana. Even two of the three border states don't offer much resistance, with LSU regularly able to dip into Mississippi and Arkansas for the top talent in the states.

LSU also has one of the biggest budgets in the country, with sparkling facilities and a robust NIL purse to match it. Florida has improved in these areas in the last few years, but UF still may not quite be able to match what LSU is willing to do financially.

Also in LSU's favor: Kelly is the first Tigers coach hired this century who didn't win a National Championship. Three coaches in a row at LSU - Nick Saban, Les Miles, and Ed Orgeron - all won national titles at LSU, and each of them did it within three years of being in Baton Rouge. No one is blaming the school for LSU not winning a title under Kelly.

UF, meanwhile, hasn't won any title of substance since Tim Tebow was still wearing Blue and Orange.

Florida is still one of the best jobs in the country. The history, resources, and recognition ensure that all but a select few schools will fall below UF in the coaching hierarchy. Unfortunately for the Gators, one of those select few just jumped into the fray.

Related Gators stories:

HISTORIC HIRE: After four failed hires, we look at the past to try and figure out what went wrong at Florida. READ MORE

HOT BOARD: UF will have plenty of options to replace Napier. Here's a look at 10 likely candidates. READ MORE