Florida Can’t Get Out of Its Own Way in Season-Opening Dud

The Gators’ familiar problems with execution cropped up once again in a dispiriting loss to Utah to begin Billy Napier’s second season.

Utah didn’t have its starting quarterback, Cam Rising, and rotated two throughout the game. Utah was the team that didn’t have its standout tight end Brant Kuithe, nor did it have multiple other starters. But Florida was the team who looked disjointed, unprepared and just plain bad in a 24–11 loss to the Utes. In their first out-of-conference game outside of Florida since 1991, the Gators looked like they simply were not ready to play from the very first snap. Bryson Barnes’s 70-yard bomb to Money Parks on Utah’s first offensive play of the game stunned Florida.

UTAH GOES 70 YARDS ON ITS OPENING PLAY 💥 pic.twitter.com/gJgcBN5F4o

— ESPN (@espn) September 1, 2023

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said at halftime that he thought his team had started the last few seasons with a conservative play on offense to start the year, so they dialed up the long ball to great success instead. And that was emblematic of the tenor of the game. Utah looked like it had a plan and was able to execute it despite all their uncertainty coming into the game; Florida looked lost and lost the game because of it. That is the mark of a culture that is as ingrained as Whittingham’s is in his 19th season. Billy Napier, starting his second, still has quite a ways to go.

The back-breaking miscues were myriad for the Gators. There was a delay of game on a third down in the red zone in the first quarter. A false start on a fourth-and-short in the red zone on the next possession. The Gators’ defense worked to get Utah’s offense to punt, only to have a procedural penalty gift the Utes a first down because they had two players in No. 3 jerseys on the field. Two plays later, Nate Johnson, Utah’s other quarterback, ran in a touchdown from 27 yards. There were plays where Florida struggled to line up, like a fourth down in the third quarter and a key drop by wideout Ricky Pearsall, which ended up intercepted. Football is a game of execution, especially in key moments, and Florida simply could not do it. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that UF converted a third or fourth down.

Utah’s defense was its typically physical and aggressive self; few college teams tackle better or harder. On offense, it was a bit of a mixed bag in the second half, but after building a 24–3 lead, all that was necessary was to manage the rest of a game that Florida was unable to claw its way back into with three drives in the second half that showed promise but ended in a turnover on downs.