5 Thoughts from the Florida Gators' instant classic win over No. 7 Utah

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Florida Gators were written off, including by the person smashing the keys for this very column. No. 7 Utah was bringing back most of its 2021 Pac-12 Champion roster.

Billy Napier is new. He’s never been a coach at a Power 5 school, let alone one with the standards and expectations that UF has. He would get his program right but it would take time. Apparently, 273 days was enough time to knock off a team that some had as a playoff contender.

Napier became the first Florida Gators head coach to defeat a ranked opponent in his debut.

Florida’s defeat of No. 7 Utah is tied for UF’s highest-ranked victory in a season opener in program history. It is the second time that an unranked Gators team has defeated a top-10 opponent in a season opener – both were ranked No. 7 (Houston, 1969).

The Gators were not ranked Saturday. They will be next Saturday in what should be a top-25 matchup with the Kentucky Wildcats.

Here are five takeaways from the Florida Gators’ instant classic.

Anthony Richardson shows the country what Gators fans already knew

If you didn’t know, welcome to the Anthony Richardson experience. Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham compared him to Cam Newton

His head coach had tried to temper those expectations.

“This is a new experience for him with a new staff, with a new system and there’s a certain level of responsibility that comes with all this and he’s a young man,” Napier said leading up to the game.

Napier went on to say that Richardson only completed 38 passes last season. That the great quarterbacks in Florida history did that in single games.

He didn’t complete — or even attempt — that many and it didn’t matter.

Richardson finished the night completing 17-of-24 (70.8%) of his passes for 168 yards. He added 106 rushing yards and three touchdowns, including the last one of the game. It was a new career-high.

The only thing Richardson will need to avoid now is what Nick Saban calls rat poison.

Anthony Richardson is that dude and everyone in the college football universe is going to tell him that fact. He’ll get even more attention walking around campus than he already did. He’ll need to learn to manage that, something Napier isn’t worried about.

“We all know the kid’s got physical talent. We’ve known that for a long time,” Napier said after the game. “What has impressed me is his work ethic, his discipline, his detail. He’s a good teammate, he’s a great example, and he’s selfless.”

He’s also a ton of fun to watch play football.

One score games for Napier

Billy Napier is now 17-3 in one-score games. It’s a stat that he didn’t have at the top of his mind when asked after the game.

“I feel like we’ve played in a few, I would say that,” he said. “I don’t know how many we’ve played in, but it’s been a lot.”

There will be close games when you play in the SEC. Being able to handle the pressure of late game decisions, executing play calls, and finding a way to come out just one point better than your opponent. Napier has shown he can do that.

As Florida’s final drive was getting near the goal line a critical fourth down arose. Napier, sitting on timeouts, watched the play clock — and game clock — click down to 1:29. His mind was made up more than four minutes before that.

“We did that, knowing that we’re going to go for it on fourth down the entire time. That was part of it,” he said when asked about the situation. “We probably scored – we scored. I remember telling the defensive players coming off the field about 6 and a half minutes left. We’re gonna go score. Get ready to stop ‘em. And we were fortunate that they did stop ‘em.”

That’s the attitude and mentality of a winner and a man confident in his program and his players.

Ventrell Miller’s importance

When Ventrell Miller’s biceps tendon ripped last season the Gators’ heart on defense went with him. What Miller means to the Gators is more than just his nine tackles on the night. It’s more than his goal line stand that forced a Utah turnover on downs on the one-yard line.

Ventrell Miller is a man amongst men in the Gators locker room. He’s the heart and soul of that defensive unit.

“I really missed Ventrell playing out there,” Gervon Dexter said after the game. “Tonight was fun getting back to playing with Ventrell.”

“You talk about a guy you want to go to battle with, that’s a guy you want to war with,” Napier said.

The Swamp was alive

We spent the last month talking about the heat and the humidity. It rained for Gator Walk and it was certainly humid. We should have been talking about the fans more than the weather.

The Swamp was a living, breathing, screaming, hostile entity on Saturday night. Not a single person in the building can honestly say that the crowd and the environment didn’t have an effect.

Hats off to the 90,799 that showed up and lost their collective minds.

You're one of a kind, #GatorNation 🧡 💙 #GoGators | @GatorsFB pic.twitter.com/9UBVcYDMKm

— Florida Gators (@FloridaGators) September 4, 2022

One crow, medium rare, please

Maybe I was a prisoner to the way the 2021 season ended. Perhaps, jaded by how poorly the team looked down the stretch. I’ve always thought that Napier was a great hire. I just thought that Utah was too experienced. Kyle Whittingham replaced Urban Meyer at Utah.

Think about that.

Whittingham has been building a program for 18 years. During that time the Gators have had five different head coaches. Four in the past 10 years alone. And on top of inheriting a 6-7 program, Napier walked into a tough opener.

I underestimated The Swamp. The place was incredible. I underestimated the Gators. There was no fear of hosting a top-10 team. There was no doubt, even when they trailed with 1:29 left on the clock.

“Once you got it under five minutes, it’s go for it,” Napier said. “You’ve got four downs the entire time.”

Even if the outcome would have been different. If Amari Burney doesn’t get his hands on that final pass and Utah wins, my mind was changed. The Gators, with Napier and (obviously) Anthony Richardson, can compete every single Saturday.

I’m now a BILLYiever.