Florida Gators

THE QUICK SLANT
FLORIDA 29, No. 7 UTAH 26

WHAT HAPPENED: Senior linebacker Amari Burney's diving interception of red-hot Cameron Rising's pass into the end zone with just 17 seconds remaining preserved a pulsating victory for the host Gators over the seventh-ranked Utes in what was a classic of a 2022 season opener Saturday night at Spurrier/Florida Field. The game marked the debut of Coach Billy Napier, who became the first coach in UF history to knock off a ranked opponent in his first game with the Gators. It wasn't easy, but against the defending Pac-12 champion Utes it wasn't supposed to be, either. Florida had to come from behind four times and had the will, firepower and weapon to do it behind sophomore quarterback Anthony Richardson. The 6-foot-4, 235-pound Richardson lived up to his preseason Heisman Trophy hype by passing for 168 yards and rushing for 106 and a career-best three touchdowns, including the go-ahead score with 1:25 to go that capped a clutch and poised drive of 14 plays and 75 yards over 4:57. He gave the Gators their three-point margin, but still left plenty of time for Rising, a junior and veteran, to give his team a chance. And he did. Rising (216 yards and 1 TD passing, 115 yards and 1 TD rushing) moved the Utes from their 25, with the big play his 29-yard run to the UF 19 on third-and-7. Three plays later, Rising faced a second-and-goal from the 6 and looked to force a low throw into traffic. Burney was part of that traffic and took a nose dive to cradle the ball, secure the victory and send the "Swamp" into hysterics. Richardson scored on runs of 2, 45 and the game-winning 2 yards. The Gators also got 76 yards and a touchdown from tailback Montrell Johnson, the sophomore who came to UF with Napier from the University of Louisiana. Johnson more than made up for an opening-drive fumble (his team's only turnover of the night) that set up a Utah touchdown and early 7-0 lead. From there, the game became a back-and-forth affair with seven lead changes. Both teams finished with well over 400 yards of total offense, with Utah getting 115 yards and a score from tailback Tavion Thomas and nine catches for 105 yards and a score from tight end Brant Kuithe. Of Florida's 451 total yards, 283 came on the ground, while the Gators converted seven of 13 third downs and scored touchdowns on all three red zone possessions.  WHAT IT MEANS: Napier went 40-12 and won the 2021 Sun Belt Conference championship at Louisiana. He inherited a team that went 6-7 last season, but now has expectations after beating a ranked opponent in an opener for only the third time program history and for the first time since 1982. Meanwhile, the Gators extended their FBS-record streak of season-opening home wins to 33, but it's who they beat that made the feat all the more impressive and almost certainly will vault UF into next week's Associated Press Top 25 just in time for another big-time challenge that will have bigger-picture ramifications in the Southeastern Conference (read on).

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: The 2022 Gators were always going to be about Richardson and nothing occurred Saturday night to think otherwise. He had some fabulous moments (without a turnover, no less) and will have plenty more, as the UF coaching staff continues to open things up for him and let him play. 

STAGGERING STATISTIC: The highest-ranked team Florida had ever defeated in an opener was No. 7 in Houston back in 1969 (the first year of Reaves-to-Alvarez). Openers over the last 30-plus years had been against overmatched directional schools. As for a showdown like this one, basically 53 years in the making, ask the largest opening-day crowd (90,799) in Florida history if it was worth the wait.  

UP NEXT: The Gators (1-0) will ride this high into next week's start to the SEC schedule when Eastern Division foe and 20th-ranked Kentucky (1-0), which handled Miami-Ohio 37-13 in its opener, rolls into town. The Wildcats, under Coach Mark Stoops, return a boatload of players from the program's second 10-win team over the last four seasons, which happen to be UK's only double-digit victory campaigns of the last 44 years. Kentucky has beaten UF two of the last four meetings, including last year's 20-13 win at Lexington, after losing 31 straight in the series from 1987-2017. The 1-2 start to the Florida season very likely is the most difficult first two games for any team in FBS classification.