Florida's football season didn’t get off to an ideal start Thursday night, with the Gators losing 24–11 to a Utah team without its starting quarterback and looking sloppy in the process.
Coming off back-to-back losing seasons (the latter of which came under current coach Billy Napier), Florida looked ill-prepared for the opener. The team committed some unforgivable penalties, including having two players with the same jersey number on the field at the same time during a punt to give the Utes an extra possession and a disastrous procedural penalty that derailed a potential touchdown drive offensively.
Gator fans seemed fed up, and ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit said postgame that they had every right to be.
“To start the season this way with the miscues… ‘Are you kidding me? We’re doing this again?’” Herbstreit said. “They’re going to have to get their act together in a hurry, because [Tennessee] with that up-tempo offense will be coming to town in a few weeks.”
"I'm calling this game (Florida-Utah) and all I can think think about is what people in Florida are doing watching this game... back-to-back losing seasons... to start the season this way with the miscues... 'Are you kidding me? We're doing this again?'"- Kirk Herbstreit pic.twitter.com/MhkGMasf77
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 1, 2023
“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,” Sports Illustrated’s Richard Johnson wrote.
Patience seems likely to wear thin quickly in Gainesville for Napier, despite it being just the first week of his second season as head coach after taking over for Dan Mullen.
The Gators shouldn’t have much trouble with McNeese State next weekend, but performances like Thursday night’s won’t do it come SEC play for Napier’s club.
