Billy Napier lights up when talking about Ventrell Miller, fourth-down stop.

Florida beat Utah with situational football in the red zone. When the Gators got inside the 20, they capitalized. Meanwhile, Utah saw two possessions inside the 10-yard-line yield zero points. Including the final drive of the game, when Florida picked the Utes off to effectively end the game.

Punch either of those possessions in for a touchdown and the Pac-12 power likely comes away with the victory. Alas, it was the Gator playmakers who stepped up and, well, made plays. The earlier red zone stop cam on a fourth-and-goal inside Florida’s own one-yard-line. But linebacker Ventrell Miller plugged the hole that Utah’s Tavion Thomas hoped to run though. Huge play by Miller. One that got him lofty praise from head coach Billy Napier after the fact.

Here was Napier in his postgame presser, giving all the props to Miller for the game-changing fourth-down stop:

“Man, Ventrell Miller. You talk about a guy you want to goto battle with, that’s the guy you want to go to war with there. He’s…let me say this: that’s the difference in the game right.”

The difference, meaning Florida’s ability to defend its end zone when pushed to the brink.

“It’s red zone touchdowns, right. We scored touchdowns in the red zone, they did too, you know. But we forced them, I think, into two field goals. They had two times that he got no points from a red area trip, we got touchdowns, I think, every single time, right.

“And that’s the difference in the game: the interception and the fumble early. They scratch each other and here we go. So, you know, turnovers, explosive plays, red area touchdowns. Ultimately, tonight was all about four-point plays in the red zone. And hats off to Patrick Toney for getting stops, getting our players in position, the players executing.”

Utah was a couple inches away from perhaps hanging 40 points on the Gators. Except guys like Miller stepped up to make huge plays at the biggest possible moments. Hats off to Billy Napier and Patrick Toney for having their guys ready to make the play. At the end of the day, you just need playmakers. For as well as Utah moved the ball for most of the game, a couple moments of brilliance from the Florida D made the ultimate difference.