Florida's Plan to Deal With Utah's Altitude? 'Get In, Get Out'
Content warning: This story contains a video of a person vomiting.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida will take on two battles within Rice-Eccles Stadium on Thursday: One against Utah in a rematch of last season's opening thriller, and another versus a new environment.
Although the two settings cannot be compared, the Utes didn't handle the latter fight, with the humidity of The Swamp, very well a year ago.
Florida flirts with significant increases in elevation every two years when it travels to Columbia, Mo. (761 feet above sea level) and Lexington, Ky. (978 feet) for SEC matchups. And in fact, its most recent game — Dec. 2022's Las Vegas Bowl against Oregon State — was just over 2,000 feet up.
The 30-3 loss, impacted by the altitude or not, offered Florida a warm-up ahead of its matchup in Salt Lake City, which sits 4,265 feet above sea level.
Since that game, UF head coach Billy Napier and his staff have studied what to expect at more than double the height of Las Vegas, Nev.
They've assessed information provided by pro football contacts who nestle into mountain ranges amidst their seasonal travel, in an attempt to avoid altitude sickness induced by exercising in the thinner air without an adequate amount of time to adjust to the conditions.
The strategy the Gators have landed on? Maintain the status quo, relative to their typical schedule on the road.
"The altitude, we've spent extensive time researching that relative to our sports science and our training staff, and all indications tell us to go, stay in your normal routine," Napier explained. "It really takes 10 days to get adjusted. Get in, get out. We've met with a lot of NFL teams regarding that. We feel good about our plan."
Florida's team flights will land around 5 p.m. local time on Wednesday, aiming to begin pre-game warmups within 24 hours of arrival — in theory, before the acclimatization process begins having a greater effect on a human body that quickly ascended to such a high level rather than gradually.
At that point, the Gators' focus will be not on the change in climate, but instead solely on the task at hand: Defeating the Kyle Whittingham-led Utes to conclude the home-and-home series between the two programs.
In doing so, Florida would also snap Utah's 14-game winning streak inside Rice-Eccles Stadium.
"I think it's more about the football," Napier said. "I think the altitude, obviously, everybody likes to talk about that, but coach Whittingham's teams and the way they play football have been ultimately more important than that. I think he's done a fantastic job creating an identity for his team that's allowed them to be consistent."
Of course, at home, Utah has the advantage of hormonal adaptation. Florida can say the same about the southern heat, although the Utes put up a good fight in their 29-26 loss last year in Gainesville.
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