Florida Gators football is back.
On Saturday, Billy Napier will lead the Gators onto the field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium for the first time as the new head coach at the University of Florida. There’s been no shortage of talk and hype surrounding the new regime in Gainesville, but now it’s time to put the team to the test.
Florida’s opponent, Utah, isn’t the typical season opener the Gators see, but it’s a good chance to see exactly where UF stands. The Utes won the Pac-12 last year and were two quarters away from a Rose Bowl victory before Ohio State came back to deny them.
These two teams haven’t met up since 1977, but there should still be a healthy competitive spirit. Utah is looking to prove itself as a legitimate CFP threat out of the Pac-12 and Florida’s expectations aren’t ever low. Napier expects mistakes, but limiting enough of them should help things stay close into the second half.