Game 1 (Saturday Sept 3, 2022) VS Utah Preview & Discussion Thread

Good point.

Plus we don't have Emory at qb either.

Guess I'm still reeling a bit from that shite show last year.

This is a huge game to set the table for Napier and the program going forward. I will be shocked if we don't see a maximum effort to win this game. Fans will be ready too!

We all want to forget last year and relive the greatness of Gator teams with good coaches.

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I think Florida pretty much controls the game and Utah will be 0-1 leaving the Swamp. Richardson alone has too much speed and talent for them. Defense will be better than most expect.

Its a new day!!!

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I hope you are right.

I think it will be a battle (like the Utah-Ohio State game at the Rose Bowl), but the X factor (and main difference between this game and that one) will be the weather and the crowd.

The Swamp in September is way hotter than Pasadena in Jan, I don't think Utah has ever had to deal with anything like that in their schedule at all (maybe against the Arizona teams?) and the crowd at the Rose bowl was like 75-85% Utah fans, as Buckeye fans were disinterested in it after losing to Michigan and missing the playoffs. I know that the Swamp is going to be rocking to welcome Napier and cheer on AR.

Those two factors alone might be able to knock Utah off their feet. Not to mention that our players will probably have a lot to prove and will be playing with a chip on their shoulder.

I do wonder if AR is really as injury prone as Mullen claimed, or if that was just a ruse to continue playing Emory even though everyone was well aware that AR was better and that was who the fans were clamoring for last year.

I suppose the answer is likely in the middle somewhere, but we'll find out for sure this season.

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Should be a good game. I hope being the 1st game and Utah traveling that far is enough for us to get the win. Many early polls peg them in the lower part of the top 10.

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I believe this game is very winnable and will be a close, tight game that could go either way. I'm hedging myself for potential disappointment and leaning towards a slight Utah win because of the experience and continuity of their staff and players. But I think the weather and crowd could be an "x-factor" that could negate their advantages. Even Bama and Auburn had a hard time with the crowd noise at the Swamp, and they routinely play in loud environments like @LSU and @Aggy all the time. I doubt that Utah has to go into an environment anything like the Swamp, especially with how weak the traditional Pac-12 powerhouses have been the past few years. The Coliseum and Rose bowl likely were at half-capacity when Utah have been there recently.

Heart says we keep it close. Head says we get blown out because of the defense that was left behind is going to take some work to improve.

Good game to figure out where we stand right away though.

I think Utah is a good team and the perfect test for the new staff.

Some of the worries that fans have about this matchup is the fact that they looked really sharp 2x against Oregon and played Ohio State to the wire in a classic Rose Bowl at the end of last year, and are returning like 85-90% of their team.

But after looking at their schedule last year, I'm a little less worried about them.

2021 Football Schedule
Overall 10-4 .714
Conference 8-1 .889
Home 6-0
Away 3-3
Neutral 1-1

Sep 2 (Thu) 5:30 PM Home Weber State Salt Lake City, UT W 40-17

Sep 11 (Sat) 8:15 PM Away Brigham Young Provo, UT L 17-26

Sep 18 (Sat) 5:00 PM Away San Diego State Carson, CA L 31-33

Sep 25 (Sat) 12:30 PM Home Washington State Salt Lake City, UT W 24-13

Oct 9 (Sat) 6:00 PM Away USC Los Angeles, CA W 42-26

Oct 16 (Sat) 8:00 PM Home Arizona State Salt Lake City, UT W 35-21

Oct 23 (Sat) 5:30 PM Away Oregon State Corvallis, OR L 34-42

Oct 30 (Sat) 8:00 PM Home UCLA Salt Lake City, UT W 44-24

Nov 5 (Fri) 8:30 PM Away Stanford Stanford, CA W 52-7

Nov 13 (Sat) 12:00 PM Away Arizona Tucson, AZ W 38-29

Nov 20 (Sat) 5:30 PM Home Oregon Salt Lake City, UT W 38-7

Nov 26 (Fri) 2:00 PM Home Colorado Salt Lake City, UT W 28-13

Dec 3 (Fri) 6:00 PM Neutral Oregon Las Vegas, NV W 38-10

Jan 1 (Sat) 3:00 PM Neutral Ohio State Pasadena, CA L 45-48

Looking at 3 of the 4 losses, they were to not very good teams on the road. Oregon was their best win(s), but there was a lot of turmoil with Cristobal thinking about heading to scUM, so it may be misleading to read too much into that.

The Rose Bowl was great, and Utah played well, but Ohio State came in reeling after losing to Michigan for the first time in about a decade, and also had 2 of their starting wide receivers and a starting OL (Petit-Frere, who Mullen recruited but whiffed on) sitting out of that game.

Their most impressive road wins last year were against a terrible Stanford, a horrid USC with an interim coach, and a mediocre UCLA. Besides that, their performance on the road was pretty spotty, with losses to BYU (who lost to UAB in the bowl game), San Diego State (speaks for itself), and Oregon State (who finished 7-6).

tl;dr Utah looked tough at home last year, and played a few vulnerable good teams in neutral sites at the end of last year, but looked really suspect on the road. That, with the humidity/heat and crowd at the Swamp, should put us in good position to knock them off their feet and kick off the Napier Era with a bang

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I believe we will win, but Utah has to be taken seriously. They traveled well last year and ended the season with a bowl win.

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Yep. I feel confident for a W but Utah is legit and Whittingham is a great coach. Should be a fun atmosphere!