The Florida Gators dropped their opening game of the 2023 season 24-11 to Utah on Thursday night.
Gator Country provides five early takeaways from Florida’s week one loss to Utah.
Poor Offensive Line Play
The Florida Gators offensive line didn’t show up in pass protection or run block on Thursday night. The Gators netted just 13 rushing yards in the contest, as Graham Mertz was sacked five times for a loss of 47 yards.
Running lanes were scare against Utah’s experienced front seven as Montrell Johnson and Trevor Etienne combined for just 28 yards on ten carries, an average of just 2.8 yards per carry. Normally I would say that running only ten times with arguably your two best players is inexcusable, but it was evident to me early on in the game that Utah was keyed in on the running game, and that wasn’t much of an option. Napier was forced to get both Johnson and Etienne involved in the passing game; the duo combined for seven catches and 53 yards through the air.
Billy Napier found a majority of his offensive success on the perimeter, often using wide receiver and running back screens. 179 of Florida’s 346 yards (52%) came from yards after the catch. Florida outgained Utah 346 to 270, but ultimately couldn’t find any momentum offensively due to poor offensive line play and some questionable play calls.
Special Teams Disaster
Florida’s Special Teams unit was a disaster once again after a poor effort in 2022.
True freshman Eugene Wilson fair caught two balls near the five-yard line, which is something they are not taught to do. Any ball within the ten-yard line is supposed to be let go, in hopes of the ball bouncing in the endzone for a touchback. In fairness to Utah’s punter Jack Bouwmeester, he had an excellent game, averaging 51.8 yards per punt on six attempts, landing three within the 20 and three 50+ yard punts with a long of 64.
Florida’s kicker Adam Miahlek missed 31-yard attempt early in the second quarter, which would have cut Florida’s deficit to one point.
The Gators suffered a critical penalty on a punt formation in the middle of the second quarter, where Florida was called for having two players with the same jersey number on the field at the same time. The penalty gave Utah a first down, which led to a touchdown drive. Eugene Wilson recently switched to #3, which was the number at fault, either way, this is an inexcusable penalty and something that needs to be ironed out before week one.
Florida’s punter Jeremy Crawshaw also had a 21-yard punt in the contest and Tony Livingston was called for a holding penalty on a punt that wasn’t returned.
Penalties
Florida was called for nine penalties for 45 yards on Thursday night while Utah was called for five penalties for 35 yards.
The painful penalties came on third/fourth and short as Florida had three false starts / delay of game on 3rd/4th and one, all of which resulted in zero-point drives. Florida had a delay of game and a false start on the same series that Adam Miahlek missed his 31-yard field goal attempt on a 4th and six.
Improved Defense
One of the few bright spots from Thursday night was Florida’s defense, who allowed just 270 yards to Utah. Obviously the Utes trotted out a third team QB, but the Gators’ defense got stronger as the game went on, allowing just 12 yards on 12 plays in the third quarter.
Florida didn’t create the pressure they needed to tonight as they failed to sack Utah’s quarterbacks, but the Gators tackled much better tonight than they have in recent years. 14 of Utah’s 24 points came after Florida’s multiple jersey number blunder and Graham Mertz’s interception on the 12-yard line, which bounced off Ricky Pearsall’s hands.
Shemar James led the Gators with 13 tackles (6 solo).
Florida only allowed three third down conversions on 13 attempts.
One Third Down Conversion
While Florida’s defense did an admirable job on third downs, Florida’s offense did not. The Gators converted just one third down on 13 attempts in the contest. You just aren’t going to win many games with those numbers, it’s as simple as that. The penalties didn’t help Florida in this statistic, but Billy Napier didn’t do enough to set his team up for success on third downs.
The penalty for duplicate numbers on the field would have happened, even if Wilson wore #21.
The Gators looked to be playing it safe by keeping their D on the field in case of a fake punt. I believe Big Dez was on the field also.
Post game ramblings. It’s great to-be a Florida Gator. Now the critique- The overall lack of discipline was hard to watch. False starts. Two of the same Jerseys. Offensive line play – But the worst part was, IMHO, the response to the blunders from coach. He blurted out some coach-speak nonsense. Something more like: “Yeah, we screwed up royally there, that’s my responsibility and the coaches, we need to get these things corrected asap- I know we disappointed ourselves and the Gator Nation.” Hey Coach, maybe something closer to ‘the Promise’ rather then some formation mumbo jumbo cop-out. Finally, we will improve, I suppose I hate it when Vegas’ analysis and subsequent predications are more accurate then the intel from the coaches. I admit to my own delusional optimism. I’m smiling today but shaking my head. GO GATORS!