"The Swamp" will be alive Saturday for one of the most anticipated home openers in program history, a marked difference from recent UF home debuts.
Charting the Gators: Recent Home Openers
Wednesday, August 31, 2022 | Football, Chris Harry
Share:
By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The element of excitement and newness is always been there, but there is no denying that a bunch of Florida season openers, specifically season debuts at "The Swamp," have lacked juice the last three-plus decades. That's neither a shot at the Gators nor at the out-manned opponents that have come to town in August and early September. It's just a fact.
Obviously, that won't be the case when seventh-ranked Utah, the reigning Pac-12 champion, rolls out of the south end zone visitors' tunnel for Saturday night's 2022 season-opening showdown that will double as the debut of the Coach Billy Napier era. The game will represent the Gators' highest-ranked opponent at home to start a season since No. 7 Houston in 1969 (and just the second ranked foe since Jim Kelly and Miami in 1982), as well as the first power conference team from outside the league since Oklahoma State visited in 1990.
[Note: UF and Kentucky opened the 1992 campaign here as the Southeastern Conference was dealing with its first season after expanding from 10 to 12 teams, splitting into divisions, going from a seven- to eight-game league schedule and adding its championship game.]
In '69, the Gators beat the Cougars 59-34 (see "Super Sophs"), and in '90 demolished the probation-saddled Cowboys 50-7 in what was the program's first game under Coach Steve Spurrier.
The Spurrier era of season openers was notable for ridiculous blowouts and stat games, with scores such as 59-21 (San Jose State), 44-6 (Arkansas State), 70-21 (New Mexico State), 55-21 (SW Louisiana), 55-26, yada, yada. Even Ron Zook got into the act, winning his openers 51-3 (UAB), 65-3 (SJSU) and 49-10 (Eastern Michigan). Urban Meyer had a couple ugly ones (56-10 vs. Hawaii; 62-3 vs. Charleston Southern), but he liked using that first game to play a lot of young guys before the red-shirt deadline.
The next three head-coaching eras, though, didn't provide a whole lot of first-home game fireworks. Wasn't always their fault, either.
Under Athletic Director Scott Stricklin, the Gators have stepped out of the buy-game comfort zone that predecessor Jeremy Foley kept for his coaches, what with neutral-site games against Michigan in Arlington, Texas ('17), Miami in Orlando ('19) and now Utah ('22), with a bunch more to come in future years (those home-and-homes with Miami, North Carolina State, California, Colorado, Miami, Arizona State and UCF are topics for another day). There were also some acts of God that impacted the routine, most notably the 2020 pandemic that became a season of all-SEC games, with UF opening on the road at Ole Miss.
With that in mind, here's a look at the home openers since 2011, the start of the post-Meyer era, and a handful of which were pretty ho-hum on the excitement front, with none accompanied by the kind of first-game excitement "The Swamp" will experience Saturday night.
Then-Coach Will Muschamp (center) didn't have to walk the sidelines in the rain for more than one play (one kickoff, actually) in the 2014 opener against Idaho, which officials called due to weather.
CHARTING THE GATORS
A brief rundown of the home openers during the last three Florida coaching regimes.
Year
Coach
Opponent
Score
Details
2011
Will Muschamp
Florida Atlantic
W 41-3
"Boom" era opens with 468-yard eruption and an offense that was quieted thereafter.
2012
Bowling Green
W 27-14
Remember how both Jeff Driskel andJacoby Brissett started in effort to quell QB controversy? Game was tied 14-all in the third quarter. Not very satisfying.
2013
Toledo
W 24-6
Kind of a carbon copy of the '12 opener, with things heading south soon soon after en route to 4-8 record (and program's first losing season since 1979).
2014
Idaho
Canceled
Valdez Showers returns opening kickoff 85 yards, just before wicked lightning streaks the North Florida skies and leads to the game being called due to weather.
2015
Jim McElwain
New Mexico State
W 61-13
Start of the McElwain era, with Will Grier under center, was reminiscent of Spurrier/Meyer eras, as Gators began 6-0 before the midseason adversity struck.
2016
Massachusetts
W 24-7
Not exactly a fitting dedication night for "Steve Spurrier/Florida Field" (just 363 yards, a mere 107 on ground vs. a severely overmatched opponent).
2017
Northern Colorado
Canceled
A week after the first season-opening loss in 28 years (against Michigan in Advocare Classic at Arlington, Texas), the threat of Hurricane Irma scratches UF's home opener vs the Rams. Two months later, McElwain was gone.
2018
Dan Mullen
Charleston Southern
W 53-6
Feleipe Franks welcomes Mullen with five TD passes in a rout of Buccaneers (Gators threw 10 TD the entire '17 season).
2019
Tennessee-Martin
W 45-0
Gators opened two weeks earlier in Week 0 win over Miami in Orlando. This one more notable for injuries to CJ Henderson and Kadarius Toney than UF's 543 yards.
2020
South Carolina
W 38-24
Nothing routine about the COVID 19 season, starting with an SEC-only schedule that had Kyle Trask and Gators open the week before with fireworks debut at Ole Miss.
2021
Florida Atlantic
W 35-14
Backup freshman QB Anthony Richardson stole the show with 160 yards rushing (and one very memorable leap).
