The Good, the Great and the Ugly From the Gators' Triumph Over Utah

Analyzing the good, the great and the ugly from Gators head coach Billy Napier's tenure-opening win over the Utah Utes.

Photo: Anthony Richardson; Credit: Alex Shepherd 

The new-look Florida Gators shocked the college football world on Saturday night with an upset victory over the No. 7 Utah Utes.

In a nail-biting, back-and-forth affair that saw six lead changes and one tie, the Gators squeezed out a victory through the heroics of fifth-year linebacker Amari Burney’s goal line interception with 0:17 remaining to seal the deal.

In the third season of the game-recap series we usually call “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” it doesn’t feel right to respond with two negatives in a contest that produced such a positive result.

Therefore, AllGators is switching it up in week one — as we’ve done in the past but never this early — following the monumental season-opening victory with “The Good, the Great and the Ugly” from the Florida Gators' performance against Utah.

Related: Six Takeaways From a Monumental Florida Gators Victory Over Utah

Good: Welcome to Gainesville, Billy Napier!

This offseason, new Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier took the smart route of tapering expectations to then overachieve.

He did it in recruiting when he first arrived at Florida. Now, that trickles over to the gridiron.

Asking for patience as he implemented his plan for the Gators' rebuild — which consists of multiple phases compiled of both talent acquisition and development — Napier set the stage for a year where Florida takes their losses. He stressed the importance of instilling discipline in the oft-penalized group in 2021 to avoid the self-inflicted wounds that resulted in a 6-7 record.

However, in week one, while the issues certainly weren’t erased completely, strides were taken in the right direction to give the exactly what they needed: A chance.

As a result, Napier becomes the first Gators head coach to open up his tenure with a win against a ranked opponent. He also moved to 35-0 as a head coach when leading at halftime.

The Gators got a monumental victory that should kickstart UF down a path of success earlier than anticipated. The results on the field will then correlate to acquiring elite talent to gradually improve toward playoff contention in future seasons.

It’s not to say this group won’t experience some growing pains that result in an unforeseen loss. But, with the Gators' victory in week one, optimism about an expedited rebuild under Napier and Co. will begin to reasonably swirl.

Great: QB Anthony Richardson

“It’s all about QB1. It always has been. It always will be.”

Prior to the contest against the Utes, we wrote about the importance of Anthony Richardson to the Gators' short-term and long-term success in 2022. He was our X-Factor.

He proved that to be true on Saturday night with a spectacular performance in his first game as the unrivaled starter in the Gators' offense.

Napier made it easy on Richardson at times through the use of play-action. Still, Richardson executed the routine plays he was asked to, a significant step forward in his development from a year ago.

Specifically, Richardson found comfort rolling out right in a high-low out route concept where Justin Shorter found his way open on multiple occasions to snowball a few big chunks of yardage for the Gators.

However, the times he was asked to improvise and make a play, he did just that.

He paired three rushing touchdowns — including a 45-yard scamper — with an insane display of his athletic prowess on a two-point conversion attempt where he used a jump-pump-spin combo to evade free rusher Mohamoud Diabate to convert and put the Gators up by a field goal margin in the fourth.

Richardson said pregame he understood the fact that he didn’t need to be a superhero for the offense to click. We’ll have to wait to find out if that's the case after his efforts on Saturday.

He made just one turnover-worthy throw as he tried to make a play, throwing across his body when rolling out to his left on third down around midfield. Other than that, the second career start for Richardson was as close to perfect as you can get.

Richardson will likely have to show more through the air in coming weeks, although 17-for-24 and 168 yards isn’t too shabby, to put Florida in a position to win more games than previously believed heading into year one of the new regime.

Ugly: Gators' Defensive Line

The positives significantly outweigh the negatives from the Florida team in week one. But, that doesn’t mean negatives didn’t exist within the Gators' attack.

In the first half, the Utah rushing game was stagnant. The Gators' defensive line plugged holes regularly with veteran defensive lineman Gervon Dexter leading the charge from the middle and Brenton Cox Jr. from off the edge to combine for 15 total tackles in the game.

However, the game quickly flipped on its head in the second half when the fatigue started setting in for the thin unit.

Utah star running back Tavion Thomas began having his way on the ground — accumulating 89 of his 115 yards rushing in the second half — as the Utes' offensive line opened up gaping holes in the middle of the Florida defense.

Florida had no answer. 

After racking up just 59 yards in the ground in the first half, Utah then ran for 171 in the second, flipping a switch at the halftime break to showcase the gap in physicality that was thought to be present before the game started.

The defensive line got pushed off the ball and showed some of the signs that have been present all offseason that resulted in the sirens for worry. With a thin roster at the position — especially in the middle at nose tackle — the Gators' failure to stop the run in the second was the main reason the game came down to the wire the way it did.

But, it wasn’t all the defensive line's fault.

The Gators' second level started getting lost in run fits, failing to make plays when working down toward the line of scrimmage. Even when they did, Utah’s backs found a way to fall forward for three-to-four-yard gains consistently.

That’s not the only struggle the defense saw. If it was, this section would be called “Second Half Defense.”

The Gators also failed to create pressure through their pass rush.

While Kyle Whittingham's offense, as we noted pregame, is very similar to the Gators in that they want to get the ball out of Rising’s hands quickly to prevent the possibility of pass rushers hitting home, there were still times he had considerable time to sit in the pocket before making a decision.

It came largely due to the lack of pressure created by Florida.

Neither team recorded a sack, though, making the lack of pressure less significant than it could have been if the Utes were able to get after Richardson on a more consistent basis.

The upfront struggles may not have mattered in game one — considering Florida was still able to knock off the No. 7 ranked team in the country — but it certainly will going forward into conference action.

The defensive line in particular will need to find a way to hit home against the passer, as well as a consistent rotation to remain fresh heading into the final 30 minutes of play.

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