Billy Napier reveals how playing a team like Utah adds more excitement to season opener

Florida coach Billy Napier has a tough opponent in his first game as Gators head coach when Utah comes to The Swamp in Week 1. That won’t be easy — he thinks that makes for a good opening game.

Napier, during an interview on 1010XL, said having the Utes to start the year is a good thing. They’re coming off an impressive 10-4 season that ended with a Rose Bowl shootout against Ohio State and have finished over .500 the last eight seasons. That consistency is something Napier said makes Utah a formidable opponent and provides a good example as he tries to build the program.

“I do believe that, in my experience, it’s healthy to have a formidable opponent in the opener,” Napier said. “Certainly, Utah, we have so much respect for them in terms of the stability, the consistency. They had probably one of their best teams ever last year. This is a very stable program. They built it. They’ve been probably, in my opinion, the most consistent team in the Pac-12 and I respect the brand of football that they play. They present a number of challenges for you on offense, defense and in the kicking game.

“It’s going to be a challenge and I think it’s healthy for our players to have respect. Maybe that affects their detail, their discipline along the way. I’m hopeful that it does. But eventually, around here, we’d like to build a culture and a program where it’s all about us and how we prepare and if we can control what we can control, we can go play with confidence and do our very best. … Utah, as the caliber program they have, we look forward to that challenge.”

The game is going to have quite the prime time treatment, too. It will be a 7 p.m. ET kickoff on ESPN, which means Napier will make his Gators debut in front of a national audience.