Sunday Hash: 10 delicious tidbits from Florida’s win over Utah

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September 4, 2022 10:45 am ET

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When you get your voice back, I am sure you want to talk about what was a special night in the Swamp. Florida’s 29-26 win over No. 7 Utah was one of those games you tell your kids about, right there with the wins over FSU, LSU, Auburn and Ole Miss over the last few decades in the Swamp.

The Sunday Hash each morning after the game this season will take a look back at 10 things from Saturday’s matchup and thank goodness we finally have a game to dissect. Here is our first serving fresh off a Florida win against the Utah Utes on Saturday night.

1 The crowd was a record for an opener at 90,799…

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… and they came ready to show Utah what it is like to play in the SEC. In fact, fans in the runways leaving the game were doing the “S-E-C! S-E-C!” chant as they were moving along like cattle.

Utah’s tight end Brant Kuithe, who had nine catches for 105 yards in the game, wasn’t impressed. “(The impact) was none,” he said. “We worked over a couple weeks on crowd noise, so it was not a factor at all. At least for the offense. We didn’t care about it.”

2 Billy Napier would disagree.

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I’m not sure the crowd affected the Utah offense a lot because they had 25 first downs, 6.8 yards a play and totally controlled the third quarter. But it did lift up the Gator players to do their best. In other words, it was the wind beneath their wings.

“They made a difference tonight,” Napier said. “There’s no question they affected the game. The University of Florida is a special place and these people coming back because of the way it impacted them.”

3 Quote of the game came from Napier:

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“I think I told one of our guys during the game ‘Can you believe they pay us to do this?’ It’s a game of football, right.” Well, the coaches do get paid and now most of the players do too.

4 The truth is…

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… that as impressed as I was with Anthony Richardson giving us a Heisman moment in the first game of the season, I was equally impressed with the Utes. That’s a great football team that may not lose another game this season. They came out in the second half and imposed their will on the Gator defense and ended up with 230 rushing yards.

5 One thing Napier was impressed with…

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… was the toughness of his team, something that was lacking a season ago. “I can remember a good friend of mine, when we took the job, who had worked here before, he said ‘The kids at Florida are the most competitive kids that I’ve been around,’ “ Napier said. “I would agree with him. They’ve got a little bit different edge about them.”

6 There were warts though.

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The lack of depth on the front seven was an issue in the second half and the Gators chose not to blitz and the four rushers only had two hurries in the game. Florida still doesn’t have anyone to stretch the field or get behind a defense. And the situation at tight end is not ideal.

7 The debut of Montrell Johnson did not start out well…

AP Photo/Gary McCullough

… with a fumble that gave Utah a short field and led to the Utes’ first touchdown. But he certainly made up for it with 75 rushing yards and a touchdown of his own.

“Everything I heard, everything was true,” Johnson said. “I was kinda shocked when I first walked out. I was just like looking around and taking it all in and it was great to play here.”

8 It was Richardson who scored the game-winning touchdown…

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… on a read option play that is giving defensive coordinators fits around the SEC. “It was different,” he said. “Coach Napier told me I was going to score right here, a game-winner. My heart froze and I hadn’t really heard those words before, especially in a situation like that with the crowd being so loud. I was thinking a lot. I feel like the team trusted me, the coaches trust me. I made a play.”

9 And then there was the game-clinching interception by Amari Burney…

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… just when you were thinking to yourself, “Man, someone needs to make a play here.” Burney was burned a lot during the night by Kuithe, but had the last laugh.

“We were basically in man coverage,” Burney said. “I’m the Rat. I read the quarterback, he threw the ball… I just knew I had to come up with it. I played receiver, so it was really easy to catch the ball.”