With or without Cam Rising, Paul Finebaum picks Utah over Florida

After a thrilling game in Gainesville last season, Florida will be making a return trip to Utah on Thursday night for the back half of a home-and-home series. But just over 48 hours before kickoff, nobody is quite sure of the status of Utes quarterback Cam Rising. Tearing his ACL in the Rose Bowl in January, there has been no indication from Kyle Whittingham if Rising will play.

With Rising’s status unknown, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum believes Florida has a chance to win. Something On3’s Andy Staples does not believe is too crazy of a take.

“Am I crazy to think Florida can win this game? The Cam Rising thing has me bamboozled,” Finbaum said on Tuesday’s episode of Andy Staples On3. “Do we know what’s going on with that?”

The short answer is, no. We do not know what the status of Rising is. Whittingham was not budging or giving out information during his press conference on Monday either.

“Whittingham said he isn’t elaborating on the depth chart, specifically on Cam Rising or Brant Kuithe,” tweeted Josh Furlong of KSL.com Sports. “Won’t mention whether they’ve been cleared or not.”

Staples attempted to set the scene, even if everyone outside of Rising and Whittingham are being left in the dark. The goal at Utah is to win another Pac-12 championship, making it three in a row. Obviously, the Florida game has no effect on whether or not the Utes appear in Las Vegas.

Utah must decide if playing Rising is worth the risk while thinking of the program’s long-term goals this season.

“They’ve won two consecutive Pac-12 titles,” Staples began. “They would like to win a third. They have a lot of players back from last year that could be in the NFL that came back with the express purpose of winning that league again.

“You have a quarterback that plays with a reckless style but that’s what makes him good. And he’s eight months off an ACL surgery. Do you play him in a game that does not affect the Pac-12 standings or do you hold him?”

If Finebaum were Whittington, he would sit Rising. Bryson Barnes would wind up being the starter — the same person who replaced Rising against Penn State after the ACL tear occurred in Pasadena.

While there was a tease of Florida potentially winning out West, Finebaum made his true prediction pretty clear.

“I would hold him because I think you have to believe you would win the game anyway,” Finebaum said. “In the end, I think Utah will win the game.”