Florida football is on the cusp of its annual Orange and Blue spring game — despite a two-year hiatus due to COVID — but that does not mean it is too early to look ahead to next fall when the Gators officially return to the gridiron. Among the many in the media scoping out the autumn schedule is ESPN, which recently published a roundtable discussion regarding the most anticipated matchups on the college football schedule in 2022.
ESPN’s Chris Low was most excited about the Florida-Utah game, as it represents a rare opportunity to see a game between the SEC and Pac-12 on one of the schools’ campuses. He also noted the many storylines that accompany the game, including the debut of the Gators’ new head coach.
He offered the following about the logic behind his selection.
Any time the SEC and Pac-12 square off — on somebody’s campus — sign me up. There’s just something about one school and its fans trekking all the way across the country to play another school with a different culture and different group of fans. There are tons of storylines to the Florida-Utah season opener in Gainesville on Sept. 3. For one, it’s [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag]’s debut as Florida’s head coach and Gator Nation is hungry to see him get off to a rousing start. The schedule is a daunting one for Napier in his first season. There are trips to Tennessee (Sept. 24), Texas A&M (Nov. 5) and Florida State (Nov. 25), not to mention the annual clash with Georgia in Jacksonville (Oct. 29). So if the Gators are going to win 10 or more games in 2022, they need to take care of business in the opener. For a Utah team ranked in the top 10 of some early season polls, it’s a chance to beat an SEC foe on the road, which would bolster the Utes’ College Football Playoff résumé if they can repeat as Pac-12 champions. Moreover, former Florida linebacker [autotag]Mohamoud Diabate[/autotag], second on the team in tackles a year ago, transferred to Utah and will be going up against his old teammates.
It should be a fun one for the Gator Nation when Napier’s squad opens up the 2022 schedule early next September. Meanwhile, there is a lot that can still happen between the outcome of the spring game as well as the team’s efforts in the transfer portal.
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