Game Prediction: #7 Utah Utes vs Florida Gators
The Utah Utes enter the 2022 season as the nation's 7th-ranked team and are a considered by some as a dark horse College Football Playoff team. Long time head coach Kyle Whittingham has built a steady program in Salt Lake City.
On the other side of the field is the Florida Gators, who enter season one of the Bill Napier era. The Gators will look to score a huge victory in Napier's opener, while the Utes need this victory to have a CFP worthy resume at season's end.
The Irish Breakdown staff has predictions for the matchup.
BRYAN DRISKELL, PUBLISHER
Prediction: Florida 27, Utah 20
I'm still not sure what to make of Utah. They are getting a lot of preseason love and much of it is built on their two beat downs of Oregon and their competitive Rose Bowl loss to Ohio State. But this is also the same team that lost to BYU, San Diego State and Oregon State, and wasn't overly impressive in a win over 1-11 Arizona.
Utah brings back a lot on offense, but their defense suffered some key losses, including star linebacker Devin Lloyd. I'm not sold on the Utes building on last season, even with how well they finished the season and much I respect the job Whittingham does with his program.
Florida was abysmal last season, but let's not forget the Gators played in the SEC title game in 2020 and were the only team to give Alabama a game that season. Florida also finished in the Top 10 in 2018 and 2019 before the wheels fell off last season. Let's not pretend that Billy Napier is walking into a talentless locker room.
I couldn't believe how poorly coached the Gators were on defense, and I expect that to quickly change. I also anticipate Florida quickly gets its ground attack back on track. If Napier and OC Rob Sale are able to better build around Anthony Richardson at quarterback than Mullen did the offense should rebound quickly.
So much of this reminds me of Notre Dame a few years ago. A 10-3 team had the bottom fall out and went 4-8 thanks to a head coach who lost the program and a defensive coordinator who just couldn't stop people. Changes were made and the next year Notre Dame was back to 10 wins. I see Florida having a similar jump, and that will begin with a victory over the Utes.
RYAN ROBERTS, RECRUITING DIRECTOR
Prediction: Utah 27, Florida 23
This is a pretty hard draw for the Utes, who enter 2022 with high expectations. Billy Napier has optimism around the Gator program and they come into this affair with a lot of energy.
The slightly more experienced Utah team escapes with a close victory in their opener. Defense is the name of the game early until the offenses begin gaining momentum in the second half.
VINCE DEDARIO, FOOTBALL ANALYST
Prediction: Utah 28, Florida 25
This is going to be a fun game. It really is too bad it is at the same time the Irish face off with the Buckeyes. Even though Utah is preseason #7 they are my pick as the surprise team for 2022. I believe Utah is favored in this game as well on the road in the Swamp and that is saying something.
I am very tempted to take the Gators here at home with the offense I think they are going to have but I have to stick with my preseason pick. I think Utah will grind this game out on both sides of the ball and attempt to limit what Anthony Richardson and Billy Napier want to do offensively.
SEAN STIRES, STAFF WRITER
Prediction: Utah 31, Florida 20
The Billy Napier era begins at Florida with a stiff non-conference test. Napier won 10+ games and finished in the Top 25 two years in a row at Louisiana Lafayette, but Florida and the SEC have had a way of chewing up coaches in the post Urban Meyer era. Utah ran the ball for nearly 217 yards a game last year and came within a field goal of knocking off Ohio State in the program’s first Rose Bowl.
ANDREW McDONOUGH, IB CONTRIBUTOR
Prediction: Utah 38, Florida 24
Utah enters the 2022 season with legitimate national championship hopes. The Utes proved that they were the class of the Pac-12 last season by pounding Oregon twice by a combined score of 76-17 before falling in a heartbreaker to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. A Ute offense that led the Pac-12 in rushing and averaged 6.39 yards per play returns both QB Cameron Rising and RB Tavion Thomas. On defense, Utah will miss Devin Lloyd, but still bring back talent, led by one of the top cornerbacks in the country in Clark Phillips III.
Florida will come out fired up playing in The Swamp in coach Billy Napier’s first game and QB Anthony Richardson demonstrated playmaking ability last season, but Utah is a bad matchup for Florida. Last season, the Gators ranked 10th in the SEC against the run, giving up 4.7 yards per carry. Expect Florida to keep this close for a half, but a physical and experienced Utah team leans on its strong running game to pull away late in the game.
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