Florida head coach Billy Napier attempted to stay positive after a considerably unmemorable season opener. He touched on the several things that went wrong during the postgame conference and sounded strangely assured while doing so.
“A lot of credit to Utah,” Napier said. “Gators are continuing to get better. We’re going to coach better and play better in the future.”
The Florida Gators (0-1) fell to the No. 14 Utah Utes (1-0) 24-11 to open the 2023 season. The Gators suffered miscues in every facet of play and quickly fell behind to Utah, which was without its senior starting quarterback Cameron Rising.
It was Florida’s own mistakes that kept it out of the game. Offensively, the Gators suffered three false start penalties, two illegal formation penalties, a delay of game and a holding call.
“We just had too many penalties,” Napier said. “Those are things that we can do better.”
The Gators were unsuccessful on third downs and went 1-13 throughout the contest. Florida completed 40% of its third down attempts last season, which was sixth-best in the Southeastern Conference.
“First of all, we were behind the sticks quite a bit,” Napier said. “And then the third downs that we did have that were manageable, we had penalties.”
A lack of execution showed from the opening drive. Florida incurred a false-start penalty in a third-and-one situation, which led to UF going three-and-out.
Utah quarterback Bryson Barnes offered a quick response and aired out a 70-yard touchdown to wide receiver Money Parks on the Utes’ first play. Utah led 7-0 and never faltered.
The Gators’ mistakes weren’t just seen offensively. Many of the errors committed by UF occurred on special teams.
Sophomore kicker Adam Mihalek made one of two field goal attempts and missed a routine 31-yard kick. Junior punter Jeremy Crawshaw shanked a punt that traveled just 21 yards. Personnel errors occurred on special teams more than once as well.
Florida sent out two players wearing No. 3 to return a punt in the second quarter, which resulted in a penalty and first down. The Utes eventually scored a touchdown on the drive. In the fourth quarter, the field goal block unit had just eight players on the field during a 55-yard attempt.
The return-men didn’t make things any prettier for Florida either. Freshman wide receiver Eugene Wilson opted to field a punt at the one-yard-line and was tackled around the five.
He also decided to call for a fair catch on a punt that landed around the three-yard-line, but the play was called off due to two No. 3 jerseys on the field.
“We’ve got to communicate that better,” Napier said. “There’s no question that’s another thing that we control that we didn’t do the right way.”
However, despite the all-around poor performance, the head coach offered a sense of optimism.
“I think that you find out who you really are in difficult times,” Napier said. “I think this group is going to respond. I know that group in there. There’s fight in that group.”
It was difficult for redshirt junior quarterback Graham Mertz to get anything going on offense, but he still performed in his debut for the Gators despite the circumstances. He completed 70% of his throws for 333 yards and threw a touchdown and an interception.
His performance was one of the only positives of the game for UF. Penalties and weak offensive line play continually held the offense back all throughout the contest.
Florida’s offensive line allowed five sacks, seven tackles for loss and several quarterback pressures. It was without its starting center redshirt junior Kingsley Eguakun, who was out due to injury.
“Mertz got beat up a little bit,” Napier said. “We need to keep him clean in the future.”
The Gators’ run game was quiet most of the contest due to the challenge of playing from behind. UF’s tandem of running backs — sophomore Trevor Etienne and junior Montrell Johnson Jr. — averaged 3.1 yards per carry and combined for 31 rushing yards.
“We need to get production out of the two backs to be able to give them an opportunity to impact the game,” Napier said. “When we did run, it wasn’t necessarily as effective as we wanted it to be.”
Sophomore linebacker Shemar James was another bright spot for Florida on the other side of the ball. He finished with 13 tackles and 1.5 tackles-for-loss — both of which are career-highs.
However, he didn’t receive much help from the players around him, and the defensive pressure wasn’t a factor throughout most of the game. The team failed to record a sack.
“We fell short this game,” James said. “So we’re getting back to the drawing board, getting back to Gainesville and preparing for our next opponent.”
Florida hadn’t lost a season opener since 2017, but it proved to be too difficult playing at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Utah won 14 consecutive home games entering Thursday’s matchup. The last time the Utes were defeated at home was Nov. 21, 2020, which was when they lost 33-17 to Southern California.
“I think that whenever you’re in an away environment, it kind of ramps up the possibilities of controllable things that pop up,” Mertz said. “There’s a lot of stuff that when we go out there in an away environment, that we have to hold each other accountable to and that will be a point of emphasis.”
Florida’s season opening loss can be pointed out by its lack of execution.
“Execution,” Mertz said. “That’s what I need to see from myself. I need to hold myself accountable to that.”
Napier added to the sentiment.
“I feel like we’re in the fight and we made tons of mistakes,” he said. “There’s gonna be a ton of teachable moments for a lot of young players … First thing I told the team after the game is, ‘Execution wins.’”
The Gators will look to redeem themselves in their season home opener against the McNeese State Cowboys (0-1) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU.
Contact Luke Adragna at ladragna@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @lukeadrag.
Luke Adragna is a third-year journalism student and the Florida Gators football reporter at The Alligator. He is a cat ethusiast and completes the NYT Daily Mini in less than a minute each day.
