Is Utah ready to immediately live up to hype?
No. 7 Utah at Florida (7 p.m., ESPN)
I’ll just go ahead and admit it: I have no idea what to expect from Florida this year. If you assume mediocrity based around the principle of “I watched them late last season and it was bad,” that’s fair. A lot of the same guys who were unimpressive then will be on the field Saturday.
But it’s not hard to be convinced that new head coach Billy Napier could do some good things quickly in Gainesville. He almost instantly improved Louisiana — another team that was playing below its talent level when he arrived — in his first head coaching gig. We know that quarterback
Anthony Richardson is loaded with potential. We know that all those freshmen who played on defense last year are now sophomores. And if
the staffer-heavy team photo is any indication, we know that every single player on the team has his own personal assistant coach.
The Gators are projected 26th in SP+ and 28th in FPI and that feels like splitting the difference — I can see them either playing at a top-15 level or a sub-top-40 level. And when you think about it, their own level of immediate competence will have a huge role to play in a number of ambitious teams’ seasons: Utah, Kentucky and Tennessee all have big aspirations this year, and they will all play Florida before Oct. 1.
First up are the Utes. Kyle Whittingham’s squad has become a trendy pick for the fourth CFP spot, partially because of the quality it flashed last season after
Cam Rising took over at quarterback — the Utes won nine of 10 before losing a gripping Rose Bowl to Ohio State — and in part because of the schedule. They’re slated to play only one more projected top-30 team after Florida, and if they can escape Gainesville 1-0, their odds of going 13-0 improve markedly.
Big plays will likely determine Utah’s fate. The Utes will be ruthlessly efficient on offense, but they need a few more chunk plays and easy points (sophomore wideout
Devaughn Vele might be the key to that), and the defense needs to be better at preventing the same thing. They are potentially the Pac-12 favorites even if they lose to Florida, but the weak schedule might hold them back in the CFP race if they drop this one and get to 12-1.
Current line: Utah -3 (up from -2.5 on Sunday) | SP+ projection: Utah by 0.2 | FPI projection: Florida by 0.7.
The Gators are capable of a wide range of things this season; you cannot convince me to put money on any of them at the moment.
.
Loading ...
