A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning: NO CELEBRATION HANGOVER, THE FOCUS IS ON KENTUCKY After spending the entire 2021 season on the scout team helping the Gators prep for whoever was next on the schedule, Tyreak Sapp was in a celebratory mood following Florida’s 29-26 win over 7th-ranked Utah at The Swamp. He admits he didn’t get to bed until somewhere around 4 a.m. Sunday but instead of falling asleep immediately, he was still basking in the glow of such a huge season-opening win. All thoughts of Utah were put in the rearview at 6 p.m. when the entire team gathered at the Heavener Football Center to begin preparations for 20th-ranked Kentucky, which comes to The Swamp Saturday for the first SEC game of the season. “Yesterday evening when we came in, we came in new week, new everything,” Sapp said. “Just got to change your focus, got to get your game day high and got to understand we’ve got a big time, formidable opponent coming in. High combatants. It’s a team we lost to last year so we’re just looking forward to putting our focus on them and getting ready for that team.” Sapp calls UK “high combatants” because, “It’s a war. This game is a war. They are combatants.” There is no overlooking the Wildcats, who opened their season with a 37-13 win over Miami (OH). This is a team that won 10 games in 2021 and has gone to six consecutive bowl games. The bowl streak is the best mark in Kentucky history. It’s not the easiest place to win football games, as evidenced by the fact Mark Stoops tied Bear Bryant’s 69-year-old school record for wins (60) against Miami. It only took him 10 years to get there. What impresses Florida coach Billy Napier about Kentucky is that Stoops has done it without 5-star recruits. “They have some good players that maybe weren’t highly regarded [as recruits], but they’re just as good as anybody in the country,” Napier said Monday morning. “This is a good developmental program that I have nothing but respect for. So, you’ve got to beat Kentucky. They’re going to make you beat them.” Napier complimented the Wildcats for being sound in every phase of the game. He sees a well-coached team that rarely strays from the identity Stoops has brought to the program. “I think they know who they are on offense, defense and special teams,” Napier said. “I see a good set of fundamentals in all three phases, and they do a good job of evaluating players and they’ve got some height, length and speed.” Other Napier comments: On watching the film of the Utah game: “The film is sloppy, just so we’re all on the same page. I know we’re ready to put the crown on the Gators, but the Gators got a lot of work to do to play at our expectation and our standard.” On what the team mentality is after the win over Utah: The great thing is the effort was there, the physicality was there, the toughness was there … the passion. I thought the chemistry and morale of the team was good. I thought we saw some leadership emerge, but overall, lots of areas where we need to improve. So, I think we’ve got a little bit of the best of both worlds here. I think we’ve got some momentum, but we also have a team that is very self-aware. I think we’ve got a smart group. I think they understand good football. They watched the tape. They know they can do better.” O-line toughness: “That’s kind of who we want to be. That’s the brand of football we played in the past. We invest in that area. We have two offensive line coaches. We put a premium on line of scrimmage play ... But Coach Stapleton and Coach Sale are really good at what they do. I think that group – there’s a lot of room for improvement there – but we’re getting closer to the identity we want that group to have.” Two more Tyreak Sapp comments: Sapp on what Florida’s coaches are building: “They are building a tough, mean, nasty team ready to play anybody. Any type of high combatants, we’re ready for that. That’s what we’re trying to be.” Sapp on wild dog mentality of the defense: “The African wild dog. That’s a pack mentality. We have a pack mentality. We play for each other every game. We play every snap for each other. We would lay our lives on the line for each other each and every snap. We make sure we do that and make sure we hold ourselves to that standard.” Richardson, Brenton Cox Jr. honored by the SEC Anthony Richardson was named Offensive Player of the Week and edge rusher Brenton Cox Jr. was named Co-Defensive Player of the Week by the Southeastern Conference. Richardson threw for 168 yards and ran for 106 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Gators past Utah, while Cox had a career-best 10 tackles to lead the UF defense. SEC football #1 Alabama (1-0): Answering a question if he was upset that Alabama had zero sacks against Utah State, Nick Saban replied, “They threw the ball and got the ball out so quick you didn’t have a chance to get a pass rush” … Alabama is a 20-point favorite on the road at Texas Saturday. #19 Arkansas (1-0): HBC Sam Pittman offered no update on injured safety Jalen Catalon or nickel Myles Slusher, both of whom were injured in the win over Cincinnati. Catalon has a shoulder injury while Slusher appeared to hurt his collarbone. Auburn (1-0): HBC Bryan Harsin plans on playing both TJ Finley and Robby Ashford at QB against San Jose State. “I expect both guys to play,” Harsin said Monday. “As far as the number of it, how we utilize it, we’re working on that right now. Every opponent is different.” In the win over Mercer, Finley threw for 112 yards and a TD but had two passes picked off. Ashford threw for 100 yards and ran for 68. … Auburn is a 22.5-point favorite over San Jose State. #3 Georgia (1-0): After watching Georgia destroy Oregon in the season opener, Paul Finebaum on the ESPN College Football Podcast said, “There is reason to be cautious, but as you look at [Georgia’s] schedule I’m having a hard time finding a game that I would seriously be concerned about.” #20 Kentucky (1-0): HBC Mark Stoops said he cannot comment on the status of running back Chris Rodriguez or linebacker Jordan Wright, both of whom were suspended for the season opener. “There are things going on, layers to this, that I’ve been advised I really can’t comment on it,” Stoops said Monday … The UK O-line has been shaken up for the Florida game: LT Kenneth Horsey, LG Jager Burton, C Eli Cox, RG Tashawn Manning, RT Jeremy Flax … The Wildcats are 4.5-point underdogs to Florida. LSU (0-1): Brian Kelly was roasted on Twitter following the Tigers’ 242-23 loss to Florida State Sunday night. Probably the most interesting was from Michael Tadlock, who tweeted, “Am I the only one that feels like Les Miles is back at the helm for LSU? They have no passing game and are trying to run a pro style with a dual threat QB. It’s like they fired Oregon to bring back Les.” Mississippi State (1-0): Mike Leach thought QB Will Rogers played his best game seeing the field and delivering the football in the 49-23 win over Memphis. Rogers says he was unhappy with the way he played, especially after the rain delay. Rogers threw for 450 yards and five touchdowns … Mississippi State is a 10.5-point favorite on the road at Arizona. Missouri (1-0): Former Gator Ty’Ron Hopper was Mizzou’s defensive star in the Tigers’ 52-24 win over Louisiana Tech. Hopper had six tackles, a sack and an interception … Missouri is an 8-point underdog on the road at Kansas State. #21 Ole Miss (1-0): Ole Miss will start Luke Altmeyer for Saturday’s game with D1AA Central Arkansas. Altmeyer backed up Jaxson Dart in game one, completing 1-2 passes for 13 yards. Dart was 18-27 for 154 yards with one TD and one interception. South Carolina (1-0): The Gamecocks managed just 79 yards on the ground against Georgia State and QB Spencer Rattler threw two interceptions, prompting HBC Shane Beamer to say about the problems, “It’s game one and we’ll be better” … The Gamecocks are 8-point underdogs at Arkansas Saturday. Tennessee (1-0): Speaking Monday about the Tennessee offense, Pitt HBC Pat Narduzzi said, “Offensively, there’s not a more explosive offense, there’s not a faster tempo offense in the country.” … The Vols are 7-point favorites over Pitt. #6 Texas A&M (1-0): Cornerback Jaylon Jones and D-lineman McKinley Jackson are expected to return from injury for Saturday’s game … The Aggies are 17-point favorites at home against Appalachian State. Vanderbilt (1-0): Through two games, QB Mike Wright has thrown six TDPs without an interception and he’s run for 247 yards (10.29 per carry) and four more scores … The Commodores are 8-point home underdogs to Wake Forest. Our SEC orphans in the Big 12 #9 Oklahoma (1-0): After scoring three quick touchdowns in their 45-13 season opening win over UTEP, offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby slowed the game down and went to the running game, which he said was to “give the other side (defense) a break so they can catch their breath.” … Oklahoma is a 32-point favorite for Saturday’s game with Kent State. Texas (1-0): Instead of worrying about Alabama coming to town Saturday, HBC Steve Sarkisian says the Longhorns “need to be enamored with us, focused on us” … The Longhorns are 20-point underdogs to Texas. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Two things continue to stick out in my mind after watching Florida beat Utah Saturday night from the press box, then watching it a second time on replay and finally, watching Florida State beat LSU Sunday night. (1) Anthony Richardson never let the moment be too big for him. He was completely under control and with the exception of one ill-advised pass that probably should have been picked off, made very few noticeable mistakes. There is no question he is (a) better coached than he was last year and (b) far more aware, which, of course, goes back to coaching. I’m left to wonder what the hell was Dan Mullen thinking in playing Emory Jones over Anthony Richardson? EJ is a good kid, but you have to go back to Cam Newton to find a Florida quarterback as athletically gifted as Anthony Richardson. (2) A year ago, Billy Napier was coaching at Louisiana, less than an hour down I-10 from Baton Rouge where Coach O and LSU were doing a tag-team meltdown. Coach O was fired on October 17. The coach who made the most sense for LSU was Napier, who went 33-5 in his final three seasons at Louisiana. LSU passed on Napier, electing to go after Lincoln Riley and when that failed, luring Brian Kelly from Notre Dame. Two days before LSU named Brian Kelly its new head coach, Scott Stricklin hired Napier, who was his first and only priority. Napier is 1-0 as Florida’s head coach. There are 11 regular season games to go, but everything Billy Napier says and everything we’ve seen him do, such as beat Utah in game one, convinces me that UF has the right coach at the right time. This guy is a keeper. Brian Kelly is 0-1 at LSU. He’s done a fake southern accent that went over like a fart in an elevator, tried to be way too cool with dance moves, and we’ve seen him lose a game to FSU that has to make LSU fans question why he was hired in the first place. You have to go back to the Gerry Dinardo or maybe even Curly Hallman to find an LSU team that looked as disjointed and poorly coached as the one that lost to the Seminoles. It’s still early. Kelly has 11 regular season games to go to prove he’s the right guy at the right time for LSU, but what I’ve seen so far tells me (a) Florida got the right coach and (b) LSU AD Scott Woodward is dumber than a box of rocks for passing on Billy Napier.

(Photo by Chris Spears) By BUDDY MARTIN GatorBaitMedia.com Editor Anthony Richardson said "my heart froze" when he first heard Billy Napier's words. But the game was on the line in the final minutes and his ticket was about to get punched in front of over 90,000 maniacal fans. It was his first start in The Swamp. He'd never known what that was like before. And it was about to become his Night of Nights. It was magical. Before the game, Richardson walked out on the field, looked up and saw the sea of faces. "A lot of people," he said. Napier told him in the waning minutes he was putting the ball in his hands to score the winning touchdown. Then Anthony proceded to score for the third time in an upset of the nation's No. 7 team as most of the 90,799 erupted in joy. "I was just trying to make something happen. And I guess I did," Richardson said of his 2-yard burst into the South end zone of Steve Spurrier-Florida Field for the winning TD in the Gators' season opener, 29-26. Not just "something.” Pretty much EVERYTHING. And the echoes of The Swamp awakened to explode so loudly you could hear them all the way North in I-75 to Lake City, and South to Ocala. Well, there was that remarkable game-saving interception of Cameron Rising's pass in the end zone by "Old Man" Amari Burney that ended the game. That's what Napier calls his five-year veteran linebacker, wise enough to be in the right place at the right time on one of the memorable plays in The Night and a memorable occasion. As for Richardson's antics, rushing for 106 yards and three touchdowns and passing for 168 on 17 completions and no picks, it even astonishes his coach the way he can turn a play into a something remarkable. "My wife could even calls plays for him," Napier said. And on such a magical night, we could believe most anything. Right now, Gator fans are just hoping not to wake up and discover this was just a great dream.

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning: THE O-LINE WENT BEAST MODE There are people doing hard time in Raiford for less than what O’Cyrus Torrence did to whoever Utah lined up against him Saturday night. To say he beat them up would be grossly understating the punishment he dealt. He mauled them. Plain and simple. On what proved to be the game-winning drive Saturday night, Torrence wasn’t the only mauler on Florida’s offensive line. The Gators went beast mode and they dominated Utah’s highly regarded defensive front seven. The Gators drove 75 yards in 14 plays, eating up nearly five minutes of valuable time off the clock. Given the way Utah moved the football on the Florida defense in the second half, you could go so far as to say Billy Napier had the Gators playing defense with the offense. “I felt like we could move it,” Napier said post game after the Gators gave him a 29-26 win over 7th-ranked Utah in his Florida coaching debut before 90,779 insanely loud fans at The Swamp. Napier wasn’t afraid to let Anthony Richardson throw the ball, but he wanted the seconds ticking off the clock and the best way to do that was to run the ball. Of Florida’s 14 plays on the drive, the Gators threw two very safe passes – a 5-yard swing pass to Xzavier Henderson that converted a third-and-four and a 7-yard dump off to Trevor Etienne that was almost an extended handoff. There was a third pass play called, this one a play-action on fourth-and-three from the Utah 26. When Utah brought the house, Montrell Johnson picked off a blitzer enabling Richardson an escape route to his right that turned into a 9-yard gain to the 17. The 12 running plays on the drive netted 63 yards. There was a 21-yard run by Etienne and a 10-yarder by Johnson. Otherwise it was pound it between the tackles. Move the chains. Keep the clock running. Once the clock dipped below the five minute mark, it was four-down territory the rest of the way. “Once you got it under five minutes, it’s go for it,” Napier said. “You’ve got four downs the entire time. You’re throwing completions, can’t afford a negative play, right? And you have to have sound runs. We did that knowing that we’re going to go for it on fourth down the entire time.” The drive ended with Richardson’s third touchdown run of the night, a 2-yarder on the right side behind Torrence and Michael Tarquin with 1:25 to go in the game. It was the perfect ending to a drive that owed its success to the combination of a quarterback with unmatched speed and skills, three outstanding running backs (Nay’Quan Wright, Johnson and Etienne) and an offensive line playing as tough as any Florida line we’ve seen in years. We can’t begin to discount what Richardson, Wright, Johnson and Etienne bring to the running game, but the running game doesn’t click if the offensive line isn’t playing to a very high standard. Take a look at the numbers. Florida ran the ball 39 times for a net of 283 yards (7.3 per carry). The Gators had only four yards in losses, which is pretty remarkable considering the toughness and experience of the Utah D-line. Richardson wasn’t sacked, in part because he was strong enough to shuck a blitzer on two or three occasions and turn potential losses into gains, but he showed good decision-making. When he dropped back to pass and it looked like the Red Sea had parted in front of him, he was more than willing to take off. He only ran the ball 11 times the entire night (106 yards, 9.6 per carry). For the last several years, the knock on the Florida offensive line was a lack of toughness and a lack of discipline. The Gators looked plenty tough and it was obvious from the opening drive that they’re far better coached this year. That two-coach approach (Rob Sale and Darnell Stapleton) to the O-line does have merits. Lest we forget, the Gators won two national championships in three years (2006 and 2008) with Steve Addazio and John Hevesy splitting the duties. There remains concern about depth on the offensive line. Just as we have to be concerned about injuries to Richardson, we have to be concerned that one or two key components to the offensive line could go down. Napier says the Gators have seven or eight O-linemen that he’s ready to go to war with. If they stay healthy and continue to develop under the coaching of Sale and Stapleton, they will be difference makers before this season is over. SEC football #1 Alabama (1-0): In addition to throwing for five touchdowns in the first half, Heisman Trophy QB Bryce Young ran for a career high 100 yards and a TD. Next week: at Texas (1-0) #19 Arkansas (1-0): Quarterback KJ Jefferson was 18-26 passing for 223 yards and three touchdowns, plus he ran for 56 yards and another score as the Hogs opened their season with a 31-24 win over 23rd-ranked Cincinnati. Next week: vs. South Carolina (1-0) Auburn (1-0): Next week: vs. San Jose State (1-0) # 3 Georgia (1-0): Take a look at what Stetson Bennett did against Oregon (25-31, 368 yards, 2 TDPs) and what JT Daniels did for West Virginia against Pitt (23-40. 214 yards, 2 TDPs, 1 critical interception) and you have no problems whatsoever understanding why Bennett was the QB last year and Daniels rode the pine. Bennett makes plays and wins. Daniels does things that get you beaten. Next week: vs. Samford (1-0) #20 Kentucky (1-0): The Big Blue Wall, the nickname for UK’s offensive line, has a few cracks in it and freshmen are starting on the left side. The Wildcats ran for 50 (count ‘em) yards on 26 carries against Miami of the MAC. Tackles David Wohlabaugh Jr. and Jeremy Flax had serious issues with speed off the edge which is why the Wildcats gave up four sacks. In the absence of All-SEC RB Chris Rodriguez, UK turned to QB Will Levis to carry the team. He threw for 303 yards but threw a pick, missed some open receivers and was inconsistent … HBC Mark Stoops won his 60th game, tying Bear Bryant for the most career wins. Bear left UK in 1953. Next week: at Florida (1-0) LSU (0-1): Brian Kelly’s debut as the LSU coach ended in a 24-23 loss to Florida State when the extra point that would have sent the game into overtime was blocked. LSU drove 99 yards to score on the final play of regulation. LSU is the only team in the SEC with a loss. Next week: vs. Southern University (1-0) Mississippi State (1-0): Get ready for Will Rogers to set the single season passing records in the SEC. He started the season against Memphis 38-49 for 450 yards and five touchdowns, completing passes to 11 different receivers. Next week: at Arizona (1-0) Missouri (1-0): Wide receiver Chance Luper, who was supposed to be a starter, is in the hospital with an undisclosed illness and will miss the next 6-8 weeks. Next week: at Kansas State (1-0) #21 Ole Miss (1-0): The QB mystery was solved with Southern Cal transfer Jaxson Dart getting the start, but he was underwhelming, averaging just 5.7 per attempt and throwing a pick. TCU running back transfer Zach Evans more than lived up to the hype with 20 carries for 130 yards. Next week: vs. Central Arkansas (0-1) South Carolina (1-0): Is there reason for concern with QB Spencer Rattler? He threw more picks (2) and TDPs (1) against Georgia State while averaging a very pedestrian 6.1 yards per pass attempt. The South Carolina run defense gave up 200 yards on 40 attempts to Georgia State. Next week: at #19 Arkansas (1-0) Tennessee (1-0): If there is a real concern about the UT defense, it is in their ability to pressure the QB. They didn’t get a single sack in their win over Ball State and at Pitt they face Kedon Slovis, who threw for 308 yards without turning the ball over against West Virginia. Next week: at #17 Pittsburgh (1-0) #6 Texas A&M (1-0): Haynes King threw for 364 yards and three touchdowns but he completed two passes to D1AA Sam Houston. The Aggies pitched a shutout and gave up only 198 total yards. Next week: vs. Appalachian State (0-1) Vanderbilt (2-0): Yes, the two opponents have been a bad Hawai’i team and D1AA Elon Musk, but Vanderbilt has scored 105 points in two games. Vandy only scored 189 in 12 games last year. With Wake Forest Gump in Nashville next week, Vandy has a chance to open the season 3-0. What are the odds? Next week: vs. Wake Forest (1-0) Our SEC orphans in the Big 12 #9 Oklahoma (1-0): Defense, which has been in short supply the last few years, seems to be heading for a resurgence under new HBC Brent Venables. In their win over UTEP, the Sooners allowed only 13 points and 316 yards. They sacked the QB six times. Next week: vs. Kent State (0-1) Texas (1-0): Quinn Ewers completed 16-24 passes for 225 yards with two TDPs and one interception in his Texas debut … Alabama transfer tight end Jaleel Billingslee has been suspended for six games. The explanation is “something he did at Alabama.” Next week: vs. #1 Alabama (1-0) Football played elsewhere beside the SEC North Carolina (2-0): Wasn’t Gene Chizik supposed to bring defense back to Chapel Hill? Then how is it Appalachian State scored 40 in the fourth quarter on the Tar Heels? Better yet, how is it possible to win a football game 63-61 when you give up 40 in the fourth quarter? Coastal Carolina (1-0): Grayson McCall threw for three TDs without a pick and ran for one in Coastal’s win over Army. McCall has thrown for 57 TDs and only six interceptions in 512 career pass attempts. Iowa (1-0): The Hawkeyes beat D1AA South Dakota State 7-3 on the strength of a field goal and two safeties. Nebraska (1-1): Scott Frost might not have survived the weekend had the Cornhuskers lost to D1AA North Dakota. After a 7-7 halftime, the Huskers did pull out a 38-17 win. They get Georgia Southern this week. BYU (1-0): The Cougars routed South Florida 50-21 to set up a Mormons vs. Baptists showdown in Provo next week when 10th-ranked Baylor comes to town. Washington (1-0): Tampa Bay Tech alum Michael Penix Jr. is now the QB at Washington after departing Indiana via the transfer portal. He threw for 345 yards and four TDs in his debut with UDub, leading the Huskies past Kent State. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: There will be a 12-team College Football Playoff and it’s going to be virtually the same playoff that was proposed a year ago that “The Alliance” rejected. The six highest ranked conference champs will get in as well as six at-large teams, which guarantees that at least one Group of Five team will be in the playoff every year. This what the Greg Sankey-led group proposed in 2021 before the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 got snooty because Texas and Oklahoma opted to leave the Big 12. The four highest rated teams will get a first round bye. There is hope that the 12-team playoff can be implemented prior to 2026, but that remains to be seen for a variety of reasons, chief among them will one single network carry the entire playoff or will other networks be involved? Also, there are serious details that must be worked out regarding logistics as well as playoff sites. There is a lot of sentiment for first and second round games to be played on college campuses rather than neutral sites. In Pac-12 circles there is talk that the expanded playoff could save the league from extinction. Would Oregon, Washington, California and Stanford elect to remain in a league whose champion will almost certainly get in the playoff rather than die in obscurity in the Big Ten?

Chris Spears Photo Anyone who underestimates Kentucky at this point is a fool, and beating the Wildcats may have just become a little bit tougher with the Utah victory. Richardson and Miller won't. By CARLTON REESE GatorBaitMedia.com Columnist With Florida having tied seventh-ranked Utah at 7-7 in the first quarter, I prepared myself to accept what would be a moral victory for the Gators. They looked pretty good, but Utah was eventually going to take control with its superior depth and experience, and it would be an encouraging sign for Florida, knowing that although it lost the game it did make a good account of itself and fans should be optimistic. What happened, I did not see coming, and that had everything to do with the opponent on Saturday night in the Swamp and not the potential of the players clad in blue. Let’s examine who Florida beat on opening weekend: Utah is a veteran team with one of the game’s best coaches. Utah’s quarterback is not good – he is great -- and he showed the world such against the Gators. Utah has one of the country’s elite receivers in tight end Brant Kuithe and he showed the world such against the Gators. Utes running back Tavion Thomas could win the Doak Walker award this season and he showed the world such against the Gators. Utah will be favored in every game it plays from here on out, meaning the Utes running the table is more likely than not. To go 11-1 and win the Pac-12 with your only loss coming at the buzzer in week one on the road to the Florida Gators might be good enough to earn a spot in the national playoff. That’s who Florida beat Saturday night and don’t let any of the internet trolls tell you otherwise – this was a great team that went down in Gainesville. It’s another reason why this smells like 1982, does it not? In my gut, I do not think Florida is as good as Utah right now, but the advantage of the home crowd and the emotion of the night carried the Gators along with a talent at the QB position that has caught the attention of the world. In other words, the Gators showed last year’s record was an illusion and that they will be a force in the SEC East this year. But let’s slow down, shall we? I remember 1982 when Charley Pell was in his third year as head coach at Florida, and after a thrilling win over Miami in the opener the Gators pulled off one of the most memorable wins in history when they buried Southern Cal. You remember the scene: Pell charging off the field, arms flailing like a schoolboy. The team soared to a No.4 national ranking and fans crowed about this being the year UF wins the SEC and plays in the Sugar Bowl for possibly a national title. What many people forget is how two weeks later a fairly unheralded LSU team came to Gainesville and whipped the Gators. A week after that Florida was humiliated in a loss at Vanderbilt and fell out of the rankings. Point is, I hope this does not turn in to 1982. It should not – not if everything we’ve been told about new coach Billy Napier is true. We’re told – and all indications so far is that this is true – that Napier runs a tight ship, is laser-focused on the task ahead and the long-term success of his program. This team will celebrate for a night then turn to Kentucky, which presents another huge challenge, among them a post-Utah letdown, or hangover. For fans, none of this matters; all that matters is Florida beat Utah and showed it is ready take down Georgia and Alabama. We’re back, baby! The game was in Richardson's hands -- and he delivered. (Chris Spears photo) For me, what took place Saturday night was encouraging, but not an unveiling of the country’s next dominant force to reside with Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State and Clemson. Florida may become that force, I have no doubt, but this season will be a slog for which fans had better prepare themselves. Anyone who underestimates Kentucky at this point is a fool, and beating the Wildcats may have just become a little bit tougher with the Utah victory. In three weeks, the Gators travel to Knoxville and will face a Tennessee team that in no way resembles those of the past 15 years. LSU comes to town and that should scare everyone no matter the Tigers’ record and then there’s Georgia which needs no introduction. Visiting Texas A&M will be no picnic and it’s anybody’s guess right now what kind of team FSU will put on the field for a Friday night tilt against the Gators in Tallahassee. It’s a long road ahead and there will be losses, injuries, mistakes and setbacks to make fans forget the glorious evening we just experienced. That’s why it’s nice to enjoy this one and relish in the fact that Florida is now back to being part of the national college football conversation the way it was two years ago. In Napier, Florida likely has the right man for the job. He is the right temperament at the right time and with this new $85 million football facility he may turn in to the right recruiter as well. But all this translates into tomorrow, not today. Today is about celebrating what took place Saturday night and not counting all the victories that we think lie ahead. Today is about enjoying the moment while Napier and his club turn to tomorrow. What a shame it would be if this turned into 1982 when we are all starry-eyed with visions of 2006 dancing in our heads. The reality will be somewhere in between, I believe. Those now making reservations for Atlanta are going to miss out on a fun ride, one to be enjoyed one week at a time. Today I celebrate. Tomorrow, I make plans for Kentucky. Beyond that, time does not exist. I am going to enjoy this ride as it happens, thank you.

The moment Burney jumped to his feet and began a sprint through his teammates to midfield insanity broke out in the stands and the decibels rose to something probably close to the 120 or so a 747 manufactures at takeoff. By FRANZ BEARD GatorBaitMedia.com Senior Columnist If you were there – officially it was 90,799 jammed into Ben Hill Griffin Stadium but five years from now that number will have swollen to at least two million who will swear they were there for Billy Napier’s first game as Florida’s head football coach – then your ears won’t stop ringing for at least the next three days. So, get used to coming to grips with what people with Tinnitis have to deal with every day of the week. It was borderline deafening from the very first play from scrimmage when Nay’Quan Wright burst through the Utah defense for nine yards, but that was vespers at your nearby monastery compared to the eruption with 17 seconds to go when Amari Burney made the play of his life, a diving interception in the end zone that sealed Florida’s 29-26 victory over the 7th-ranked Utes. The moment Burney jumped to his feet and began a sprint through his teammates to midfield insanity broke out in the stands and the decibels rose to something probably close to the 120 or so a 747 manufactures at takeoff. The Swamp was loud and rocking. This was Lawrence Wright knocking Joey Kent into next week in 1996 loud. It was Dougie to Quezzie against FSU in 1997 loud. It was Jarvis Moss blocking the South Carolina field goal on the final play in 2006 loud. It made the win over Auburn in 2019 seem like Romper Room. That’s how loud it was. Thirty minutes after the game ended Amari Burney was standing in front of the podium talking to the media after his best play ever as a Gator. “My ears were ringing, I got a headache,” Burney said post game in the South End Zone meeting room. “People were on top of me. I was just trying to get away!” Burney’s headache was nothing compared to Utah’s. Utah got to the red zone six times Saturday night. Three times the Utes scored touchdowns. Once they had to settle for a field goal. They were also stuffed on fourth down maybe six inches from a TD in the third quarter and then there was Burney’s pick, which was Utah’s only turnover of the night. Utah also failed on a two-point conversion after a third quarter touchdown. Officially, the Utes were four-for-six in the red zone. Florida, officially, was three-for-three, but an honorable mention red zone success should be given to Anthony Richardson’s 45-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. Richardson broke containment in the pocket and sprinted down the east side line, roaring through the red zone like one of the top fuel dragsters doing the quarter-mile during the GatorNationals every March. Billy preached efficiency -- and he brought it. (Chris Spears photo) You want the difference in the game, the reason the Gators have begun the Billy Napier era at UF 1-0 and why Utah’s College Football Playoff hopes took an MK50 torpedo to the bow on opening night, then look no further than red zone efficiency. The Gators made the most of their opportunities. “We got touchdowns, I think, every single time, right?” Napier said. “That’s the difference in the game.” Florida’s defense was pounded for 230 rushing yards, 115 by Tavion Thomas. When Cameron Rising wasn’t finding tight ends open all over the field, he was running for 91 yards while helping the Utes to a nearly five-minute advantage in time of possession (32:17-27:43). Yet, when Utah got too close to the shadow of the goal posts, Florida made just enough big plays to keep the Utes from scoring more than three touchdowns. There was certainly a little bit of luck involved on at least one of the critical stops the Gators made. Utah had fourth-and-three at the Florida eight in the second quarter. The Utes lined up intent on going for it when their head coach Kyle Whittingham sprinted down the sideline to get a time out just prior to the snap. After the T/O in which the Utes changed the play call, they had a delay of game penalty that pushed the ball back to the 13, forcing them to settle for a 31-yard field goal that gave them a 13-7 lead. On their first possession of the second half, the Utes rammed the ball down the Gators’ throats to within inches of the goal line. Of their 11 plays on the time-consuming (5:52 off the clock) drive that took them from their own 28, the Utes ran the ball 10 times, six of them by 238-pound battering ram Tavion Thomas. On his first four carries, Thomas rambled for 44 yards, leaving what seemed to be a string of Florida bodies behind him. On his last two – both of them inside the Florida one, Thomas was stopped for a two-yard loss by Trey Dean III and then on fourth down from inches away by Princely Umanmielen and Brenton Cox Jr. Sandwiched between the last two carries by Thomas was a 2-yard run by Rising where Ventrell Miller and Tyreak Sapp somehow managed to keep the Utah quarterback out of the end zone. And then there was the final drive of the night when Utah took the ball at its own 25 with 1:25 to go in the game after Anthony Richardson had given the Gators a 29-26 lead on his third touchdown run of the night. It seemed nothing – certainly not the Gators – could stop the Utes as they marched eight plays to the Florida six, but on first-and-goal, Rising made a bad throw under duress from Gervon Dexter Jr. On the next play, his tight end fell down but it wouldn’t have mattered because the throw was low and Burney dived to come up with the pick. While Utah came up short a handful of plays when it mattered most, Florida had Richardson repeatedly jabbing the Utes in the heart with a nine-inch stiletto. The whispers coming out of August practice that Richardson was regularly making almost superhuman plays apparently weren’t embellished in the least. He made the big plays with his legs and with his arm. Florida threw sparingly – Richardson was 17-24 for 168 yards – and only on a couple of occasions were the throws the kind that stretch a defense downfield, but Florida’s passing game was ever so efficient and the game plan called for the Gators to control the clock. The easiest way to do that was with short, quick throws. Richardson did throw a 23-yard dart to Ricky Pearsall on a third-and-15 that salvaged a first down on Florida’s first quarter scoring drive that ended with a two-yard run by Richardson. On consecutive plays on the drive that ended with Richardson’s 45-yard touchdown sprint in the second quarter, Richardson hit Xzavier Henderson for 14 yards on a deep out and followed that up with a 15-yard laser to Pearsall. Those were NFL throws. After Montrell Johnson scored from 14 yards out at the start of the fourth quarter the Gators elected to go for two to make it a three-point game. After taking the shotgun snap, Richardson did a Houdini escape from a possible sack when he faked a throw that got a Utah pass rusher in the air, spun away and then on the run as he rolled right, threw a rope to Ja’Quavion Fraziars who was standing in the southwest corner of the south end zone for the two-point conversion that put Florida ahead 22-19. Most of Richardson’s 106 rushing yards (on 11 carries, 9.6 per attempt) were the improvisational type in which his feet showed minds of their own and a keen understanding of where to find open space. On what proved to be the game-winning drive, Richardson converted a fourth-and-two from the Utah 26. The Utes brought the house but Richardson felt the pressure from his blind side, tucked and squeezed through a narrow opening to his right, turning a potential drive-ending loss into a nine-yard gain to the Utah 17. “Heck, my wife could call plays with that guy at quarterback,” Napier said. “Tonight, there is … I want to say at least four plays right off the top of my head where we’ve got a concept call. He works his way through it then he becomes that guy, right? His legs are – they’re a difference maker. You saw it tonight. The fourth down play in the last drive … the two-point conversion. I mean, come on! He did that exact same thing in practice one day. I’m talking about the exact scenario. So I think we’re figuring here that this guy’s a pretty special player.” Aesthetically speaking, there were too many holes that will have to be patched to call this a beautiful masterpiece of a win, but painting a pretty picture wasn’t necessary on this night. What was necessary was to make the biggest plays when they were most needed. The Gators did that but in coming away with this win, may have left a potential blueprint for others to attempt to exploit. Most of the time when you give up 230 rushing yards and 5.9 yards per carry, you lose the game. Florida’s lack of depth and overall size on the defensive line of scrimmage was an ongoing problem but especially in the second half. In the third quarter, Utah had the ball for 20 plays, of which 17 were on the ground and mostly between the tackles. The Utes held the ball for 10:57. Florida, on the other hand, had 10 plays and held onto the ball for 4:03. Future opponents are going to be testing the Gators to see if they can follow the Utah formula to grind away which will serve the dual purpose of keeping Anthony Richardson off the field. The Gators were unable to put any kind of consistent pressure on Rising, who gained most of his yards on the ground by taking off when the Gators had all his receivers covered. UF didn’t get a sack and was credited with only five quarterback pressures. When there is no pressure on the opposing QB, the usual result is a record-setting day throwing the football. The Gators did have all sorts of difficulty with Utah’s tight ends – you can bet the ranch opponents will see if they can torch UF in the middle of the field with passes to the tight ends – but the Utes had problems getting their wide receivers open against Florida’s corners, who held them to a collective six catches for 51 yards. For the most part, the Gators were able to offer enough speed bumps to prevent Utah from hanging more than three TDs on the scoreboard. When UF had the ball, there were enough big plays and third-down conversions to lead to four well-constructed scoring drives. The fourth and final scoring drive was the perfect example. The drive went 73 yards in 14 plays, 12 on the ground. The two passes were good for 12 yards. Considering the Gators had so many problems stuffing Utah’s offense in the second half, the plan for the final drive was to play some defense with the offense, grinding away and eating up clock. From the moment the Gators got the ball with 6:02 left on the clock, the Gators were determined to keep both the chains and the clock moving. “Once you got it under five minutes, it’s go for it,” Napier said. “You’ve got four downs the entire time.” Richardson scored with 1:25 to go, essentially it was too much time left in the game, but Burney saved the day with his interception that set off the crowd one last time with Napier’s 17th one score win in 20 games since becoming a head coach. This was a razor-thin margin of victory over a ranked team that is going to win a lot of football games this season. No one should be surprised if the Utes win a second consecutive Pac-12 championship although their chances of becoming the first Pac-12 team to make it to the College Football Playoff since Washington did it in 2017 took a hit. From what we saw Saturday night, the Florida Gators are a good football team, too. It is way too early to predict a win total during the regular season, but if injuries can be avoided, Florida will have a chance to surprise so many critics who have the Gators with a seven-win ceiling. You don’t have to convinced Utah coach Kyle Whittingham that the Gators are capable of winning a lot of games. “The cupboard wasn’t bare when Dan Mullen left,” Whittingham said. “They have some great players, especially the quarterback. If they can keep him healthy, they are going to win a lot of games.”

By Loren Meadows-GatorBait Ventrell Miller owes Amari Burney some time on the JUGGS machine after dropping what Burney playfully called a "layup". The 5th year linebacker is happy to have Ventrell Miller back running things and making the calls. Burney said that they were "constantly" talking with each other and communicating what they were seeing each series.

By FRANZ BEARD GatorBaitMedia.com If Dante Zanders has the kind of season that Billy Napier believes he can have in 2022 he will be proclaimed as an overnight sensation, but like so many overnight sensations the path to success was filled with several detours and enough speed bumps that would have discouraged someone with lesser character. He was a defensive end who had 20 sacks as a high school junior in Boca Raton. Switched to tight end as a senior, he was good enough to earn scholarship offers from Georgia, LSU, Kentucky and Virginia Tech before choosing the Florida Gators. He was a tight end at UF in 2018-19 then switched to defensive end in 2020. He remained at defensive end through the 2021 season, after which there were decisions to be made. The coach who recruited him to UF – Dan Mullen – was fired. The new coach was Billy Napier. There were rumblings that a mass exodus of players was in the works. “I can still remember when we got here and he walks in the office and he’s thinking about leaving,” Napier said at his Wednesday press conference. Maybe it was the way Napier spoke about how things were going to change that convinced Zanders to at least delay a transfer until after spring practice. Whatever the reason, spring practice was life-altering. When injuries decimated the tight end room during the spring, Zanders was asked to switch positions again, this time back to tight end. You wouldn’t necessarily say that a star was born since it was just spring practice, but Zanders looked like a natural in the practices and again in the Orange and Blue Game where he caught five passes for 56 yards. In the summer months, he transformed his body from the 291-pound defensive end to a leaner, more agile 262-pounder who goes into Saturday night’s season opener with Utah listed number one on the tight end depth chart. “We had a couple injuries in spring ball,” Napier said. “He makes the move. He’s a very bright kid. He picks it up quickly. I think the guy’s got a future. He’s 6-5, 260-pounds. He’s heavy-handed, strong at the point of attack. He can run, he can catch and he’s smart enough to process it all. I think to play that position you have to be very intelligent.” Zanders has embraced tight end and while going full circle to transition back to the position for which he was originally recruited to Florida, he has also embraced what Napier calls the 4D or four-dimensional player. In the spring Napier described a 4D player as one who (1) knows what he is supposed to do, (2) knows what every player in his position room is supposed to do, (3) knows what every player on his side of the ball is supposed to do and (4) understands, comprehends and can discuss what all 11 players on his side of the ball are supposed to do as well as the 11 on the other side of the ball. “Me, personally, I’m not at the 4D,” Zanders said Monday. “I understand what my job is. I understand like the other roles are around me.” Being 4D fits in with Napier’s better people make better football players approach. It takes character and integrity, a rather selfless approach because the player who understands the role of all 11 players on either side of the ball on every play is one who is invested in the success of everyone on the roster. * * * Amari Burney bought in to Napier’s better people approach enough to use his COVID eligibility year to come back for a sixth season. He’s listed as a starter at inside linebacker for the Utah game. Burney probably wouldn’t have hung around if he didn’t believe that being accountable, responsible and trustworthy are essential to each player being a better teammate. And, when you have an entire team that buys in to being better teammates and better friends to each other, the roadblocks to success are fewer and farther apart. The way Burney sees it, you can’t be two different people – irresponsible off the field and then responsible and accountable to your teammates on the field. “If you can’t do the right things off the field, then how can they [coaches] trust you to put you on the field and do the right things,” Burney said. “If you’re a good player, like we say, the little things, like picking up trash off the field; like in the locker room if you see trash, you pick it up. Just being a great human being off the field can really help you on the field. Like just do the little things, stand your gap, not jump offsides, just disciplinary actions on the field.” He has embraced the concept of the 4D player although he says he’s not there just yet. “I’m working my way up there,” Burney said. “I’m 3D right now – 1D is just like getting lined up, knowing your position; 2D is kind of helping the other guys lined up; 3D is knowing the people in front of you; and 4D is just knowing everything that’s going on on the field, even with the offense running.” * * * Back during the dog days of summer, better known as August camp, it was Jeremy Crashaw’s turn to stand in front of the leadership team and talk about a word. His word was ownership and the example he used was the All Blacks, the New Zealand rugby union team famous for their black uniforms and pre-game haka ritual, not to mention the fact they are the standard of excellence for the sport. Kids in Australia and New Zealand grow up dreaming of a day when they can wear the black uniform and perform on the world stage. For nine years, Crawshaw pursued a career in rugby, always dreaming of one day suiting up for the All Blacks, but he came to the realization that his career had plateaued, which led him to turn to Australian rules football. That’s where he learned to kick, which, in turn helped him land a scholarship to punt for the University of Florida. So here he is, some 9,300 miles from home in New South Wales, Australia. He sports a handlebar mustache that should take on Rollie Fingers proportions by the end of the 2023 football season. He averaged 44.1 yards per punt as a freshman last year. He also had a 28-yard run on a fake against Vanderbilt. He has adapted well to his new surroundings, but one thing is certain: You can take the young man out of Australia, but you can’t take Australia out of the young man. The accent is pure Aussie and the lessons of the All Blacks resonate with him to this day. “One of the things they say is that better men make better All Blacks,” Crashaw said Monday. Perhaps that is why Crawshaw feels a bit at home playing for Billy Napier. From the day he was hired to be Florida’s football coach back in December, Napier has continually stressed that better people make better football players. That is an unchanging core value for Napier, who stresses academics, self-improvement, being a better teammate and a better friend to your teammates. “I believe that 110 percent,” Crawshaw said. When it was his turn to speak to the leadership team, Crawshaw turned to the core values that make the All Blacks one of the great dynasties in all of sports. Starting with their 1905 tour of the British Isles where they went 34-1, the All Blacks have been the standard of excellence by which every rugby team mimics. What sets the All Blacks apart to Crawshaw and rugby enthusiasts worldwide is their non-compromising approach to character. A team that embraces character is a team that embraces trust and the teamwork it takes to be successful. “If you can show up, if you can have integrity, if you can stand up to your own word outside of here, you say, yeah, I'll help you, I'll do this, I'll do that, outside of football, you can bring it in here,” Crawshaw said. “You've already got that characteristic in here.” In here is this Florida football team. There is chemistry with this bunch, something that may have been present when the 2021 season began but dissipated and all but disappeared sometime around the Georgia game. When returning players from that 2021 team talk about the meltdown that took place, turning a team that was ranked as high as 10th nationally into one that had to win its last two regular season games just to be bowl eligible, inevitably the finger points to discipline. A lack of discipline has this nasty habit of leading to the kind of meltdown we saw last year with a Florida team that had way too much talent to finish 6-7. If you go back to 2021, game-by-game, it’s not all that difficult to understand how the Gators unraveled. With the exception of the Alabama and Georgia games, the Gators had more talent, yet they lost games they should have won. The Kentucky loss is the poster child. There were 15 penalties including eight false starts. The defense showed, the offense didn’t. The LSU loss the offense showed even though there were four turnovers, but the defense left its game back in Gainesville. On and on it went until an unceremonious loss to UCF in a bowl so low on the importance scale that it was played prior to Christmas. Once that game was over, Napier took control. He probably sounded like a Baptist preacher as much as he did a football coach as he implored the Gators to embrace being the best they could be in their personal lives with the dividend of improvement in their football lives. “I think the important thing now is that we control – you know, you spin an entire year to get your team equipped,” Napier said. “You try to create discipline, structure, culture. You work hard on each individual member of the organization, players and staff, their role, how they contribute to the team.” When every player on the team embraces the idea that they should be and can be the best they can be every day of the week, good things can happen. “I believe that I try to be the best man that I can be every day, and I hope that translates into football,” Crawshaw said. “I hope a lot of people can see that, but I definitely strive to be a good man all around.” Billy Napier’s a few good men approach may not produce a championship team in year one. The journey begins Saturday night against Utah. Win or lose it won’t change the message that Napier will be preaching to his team. Better people will make better players. Eventually the better people will make the plays that win the big games and produce championships. Character does indeed count.

What if Cam Newton had kept clean and stayed at UF instead of leaving in 2008 with legal and academic troubles? What if Will Grier had not bought and taken Ligandrol during the 2015 season? What if the guy on the right had hung around? Cam Newton with the Pounceys, Joe Haden, Ahmad Black, Percy Harvin, etc. and teammates at the White House visit. (UAA photo) By CARLTON REESE GatorBaitMedia.com Columnist Save for Kyle Trask’s prolific 2020 season, the quarterback situation at the University of Florida has been not only a head-scratcher for Gator fans, but one that has been quite maddening ever since Tim Tebow left campus 13 years ago. This does not mean there has been a shortage of quarterback talent in Gainesville all this time, only that circumstances have dictated that talent would make its mark elsewhere. What if Cam Newton had kept clean and stayed at UF instead of leaving in 2008 with legal and academic troubles? What if Will Grier had not bought and taken Ligandrol during the 2015 season? Newton and Grier represent the two biggest names to be Gator quarterbacks but ended up having great careers elsewhere while the UF quarterback position floundered. Since Tebow, the line of UF quarterbacks could have easily read: 2010-Cam Newton, 2011- John Brantley, 2012-2014: Jeff Driskel, 2015-2018: Will Grier, 2019-2020: Kyle Trask, 2021: Emory Jones/Anthony Richardson, 2022: Anthony Richardson. On the surface, it would appear UF had a pretty solid lineage of starting quarterbacks. But not so. And they aren’t the only ones to be Gators then move on to other programs, be they greener pastures or not. Remember Antwan Chiles? The Fort Lauderdale native was one of the top linebackers in the country while in high school, but he wanted to play quarterback in college, and only Steve Spurrier’s promises to give him that opportunity was genuine. He went to Florida, was redshirted one year and in 1992 held the third spot on the depth chart behind Shane Matthews and Terry Dean. Seeing that he would never replace Dean in Spurrier’s system, Chiles left UF and wound up at Liberty, where he would see limited action in 1995. Then there was Eric Kresser, the talented backup to Dean and Danny Wuerffel from 1993-1995. Kresser always dazzled when he managed to get in and in 1995 even threw for nearly 1,000 yards. But he was too good of a talent to ride the bench and transferred to Marshall and won the Division I-AA national title while the Gators were winning one of their own. His Thundering Herd team went undefeated and won every game by at least 14 points. Kresser played three years with the Cincinnati Bengals and was a part of the 2002 Grey Cup champions Montreal Alouettes that also boasted running back Lawrence Phillips. Brock Berlin (left) was probably the biggest quarterback recruit Spurrier ever brought to Gainesville. The nation’s top prep quarterback, Berlin played the 2000 and 2001 seasons as a backup to Rex Grossman, but never seemed on the verge of being the player Spurrier had hoped, so it was off to the University of Miami. With the ‘Canes, Berlin was the starter in 2003 and 2004 and put up some decent numbers and even engineered that big comeback against UF in 2003. Ingle Martin backed up Grossman in 2002 and was neck-and-neck with Chris Leak to earn the starting job in 2003, but eventually watched as Leak took over. Martin would transfer to Furman and start for two years, guiding the Paladins to a 21-6 record. He now resides in the Furman Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2005, Josh Portis backed up Leak then transferred to Division-II California, Pa., where he set school passing records. After college, Portis made rosters in both the NFL and CFL. Cam Newton (right) came along in 2007 and 2008 as a backup to Tebow and seemed the heir apparent in Urban Meyer’s spread offense. Then he bought a stolen laptop computer and threw it out a window when the police came asking questions. That would lead to his demise at UF along with some academic fraud allegations that later surfaced, claiming he would have been kicked out of school anyway. Then, of course, he goes on to junior college, transfers to Auburn, wins the national championship and the Heisman Trophy. In 2011, Jacoby Brissett backed up John Brantley then remained on the bench in 2012 as Jeff Driskel’s backup. He transferred to N.C. State and started the 2014 and 2015 seasons, passing for over 5,200 yards with 43 touchdowns. Those numbers made him valuable enough to earn a spot in the pros and in 2022 he begins his seventh season in the NFL, this time with the Cleveland Browns. Jeff Driskel played four seasons at UF, passing for 3,411 yards and rushing for 649 yards. A broken leg in 2013 cut that season short and he was pulled during the win at Tennessee when the offense struggled. For his senior year, Driskel moved on to Louisiana Tech where he threw for over 4,000 yards in 2015 before playing four years in the NFL. (Driskel was cut by Houston this week.) When Driskel broke his leg in the Tennessee game of 2013, Tyler Murphy came in and started the rest of the season. Never deemed to be an impact player at UF, Murphy transferred to Boston College and started for the Eagles, who went 7-6 under former UF assistant Steve Addazio. When Driskel was ineffective in 2014, freshman Treon Harris took over and engineered a comeback win against Tennessee. In 2015, Harris backed up Grier and when Grier was suspended after six games for taking an illegal substance, Harris was back in the starting role as Florida finished 10-4. Harris was in trouble much of his career and in 2016 was suspended from the team. Harris transferred to Tennessee State and played one year at quarterback before switching to wide receiver his senior season. Next up was Will Grier himself, who beat Tennessee on a fourth down “Heave to Cleve” pass to Antonio Callaway then crushed third-ranked Ole Miss, then saw it all come crashing down with his taking of Ligandrol. It was 2015, Jim McElwain was in his first year at UF and the Gators were 6-0 and facing a huge tilt against LSU. Then came the suspension and the season went up in smoke and likely any chance of a successful tenure at UF for McElwain. Grier would not return to Florida – rumors stated McElwain would not lock the starting spot up for him upon his coming back, but Grier has always denied that to be the case. Anyway, he packed his bags and went to West Virginia where he would flourish in the 2017 and 2018 seasons, passing for 7,354 yards and 71 touchdowns. Feleipe Franks was an enigma at Florida. A big man with a big arm, the potential around Franks seemed unlimited, but his greatness came only in flashes. Still, he looked good enough to keep Kyle Trask on the bench and this only endeared himself even less to the fans. Franks was the starter in 2017 and 2018, but when he went down with an injury to Kentucky in the fourth game of 2019, Trask would take over and never look back. So it was on to Arkansas for Franks, who was much appreciated in Fayetteville. Franks added a spark to the Razorbacks’ woeful offense and threw 17 touchdowns against only four interceptions in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. He is now on the roster of the Atlanta Falcons as a tight end. Ironically, Brantley’s dad John III (left) came off the bench when Terry LeCount was injured against Utah in 1977 and led the Gators to victory, then went on to become the first starter the next season for Doug Dickey’s new quarterback coach Steve Spurrier. Finally, there’s Emory Jones, the last of the Gator quarterbacks to take his trade elsewhere. Jones was to be the prototype quarterback for Dan Mullen’s offense and, like Franks, showed flashes of brilliance that were overshadowed by some ugly decisions in big moments. Jones backed up Franks and Trask for three seasons before getting the starting job in 2021 and passing for 2,734 yards. All the while, though, Jones was looking over his shoulder at the phenom Richardson who was clearly a fan favorite. Jones was unable to stymie the demise of the 2021 season and it was clear by the end that Richardson was the future of Florida football. Now, Jones plays for Arizona State, which saw its starting quarterback Jayden Daniels transfer to LSU. The transfer portal is making the departures of quarterbacks a normal thing these days, but as one can clearly see, Florida has been dealing with it for 30 years. Today, panning down the roster of UF quarterbacks, one can only ponder who among them will be the transfers that make their marks elsewhere: Jack Miller?

"When it comes down to it, the Utah Utes have flourished playing the style of football that Billy Napier and staff want to play at Florida. A balanced offensive attack with a physical running game and a sound physical defense that limits the opponent’s possessions. This is not a contrast in styles -- it's southpaw against southpaw." A long time ago, Utah came to UF before it was even called "The Swamp." This is a different time and different team. The Utes are favorites over Billy Napier's squad. (Courtesy UAA) By LOREN MEADOWS GatorBaitMedia.com Football Analyst Week 1 is upon us. Saturday night the Florida Gators will welcome the defending Pac-12 Champion Utah Utes to Ben Hill Griffin for one of the most intriguing games of college football’s second weekend. The Florida Gators led by Billy Napier in his first game as Florida’s head coach will look to slow down one of the nation’s most underrated but physical football teams. To put it plainly, Utah is pretty good. The term “buckle up” comes to mind when you line up against the Utes. Utah is known for playing an extremely physical brand of football and as one opposing coach states, “they have cornered the market on what physical football looks like.” Utah will enter this game with at least five legitimate NFL prospects on offense with another four on defense. The Gators will counter with a new offensive scheme led by one of the nation's most exciting enigmas in Anthony Richardson. On defense Florida will look to confuse a re-tooled but physical offensive line that is more grit than size. Utah is the better team, but The Swamp should be hot, humid, and electric by game time. Is the venue Florida’s only edge? There may be more. Utah Offense: The Utah offense returns eight starters including top rusher Tavion Thomas (#9, 6-2, 238). The Dayton, Ohio native ignored calls from the NFL in order to return for his junior season. A former Cincinnati Bearcat, Thomas was a three-sport athlete who has played meaningful snaps at two quality programs. With 21 touchdowns in 2021 Thomas will be at the heart of a rushing attack that was 1st in the Pac-12 and 13th nationally. To balance the attack the Utes will turn to Junior Cameron Rising (#7, 6-2, 220) who was 9-2 as starter in 2021. Utah returns their top six pass catchers from last season including possibly the best tight end tandem west of the Mississippi. Brandon Kuithe (#80, 6-2, 222), and Dalton Kincaid (#86, 6-4, 248) combined for 86 catches and 14 touchdowns in 2021. Both tight ends are solid inline blockers with Kuithe specializing in the ability to play multiple spots at the receiver position. On the outside Devaughn Vale (#17, 6-5, 205) is the top target for Rising. Up front the Utah offensive line has been slightly retooled with All-Pac 12 tackle Braeden Daniels (#71, 6-4, 297) moving from right tackle to the left side. Jaren Kump (#68, 6-5, 309) returns from injury to start at right tackle. With all of their strengths on offense, could the Achilles heel of the Utah offense be the shuffling of their offensive line? With new full-time starters at four of the five positions could a rejuvenated Brenton Cox Jr., and Gervon Dexter feast on this unit on passing downs? Florida will have to be stout on running downs to put the Utes in obvious passing downs to allow their pass rushers from every level to be successful. Utah Defense: The Utah defense lost two of its best linebackers to the NFL last season. As a replacement a familiar face will return to The Swamp on Saturday. Mohamoud Diabate (#3, 6-4, 222) will man the middle for the Utah defense. Diabate, who stated that his return to Gainesville will be like “going to his ex-wife’s house” will be looking to make his mark in this game early and often. Defensive physicality has been the hallmark of Kyle Whittingham’s teams for his 18-year tenure at Utah, particularly on the defensive line. The defensive line will be anchored inside and outside by Junior Tafuna (#58, 6-3, 300), and Van Fillinger (#7, 6-4, 256). Last season both were part of a physical defensive front that was 19th nationally against the run and led the Pac-12. In addition to Diabate, highly recruited freshman Lander Barton (#20, 6-4, 230) will man the other inside backer position. In the secondary, sophomore Clark Phillips III (#1, 5-10, 183) is possibly the best cover corner in the Pac-12. At safety, the trio of Cole Bishop (#8, 6-2, 206), R.J. Hubert (#11, 6-0, 198), and Illinois State transfer Clayton Isbell (#17, 6-2, 210) is one of the best in the country. In 2021, the Utah defense ranked 40th nationally in total defense. However, they finished 84th nationally against the pass. While the defense is always physical, the defensive line averages 274 pounds in the two-deep compared to an average of 331 pounds in the prospective top eight offensive lineman for the Gators. In addition, Diabate struggled playing the run at Florida and Lander Barton for all his talents will be making his first start in what is one of college football’s most hostile environments. Could the size of the Gator offensive line pay dividends after two hours of leaning on the much smaller Utah front? When Florida elects to throw a Utah secondary that has struggled at times to make plays will be vertically challenged with the Florida receivers averaging three inches taller than the Utah secondary. The Skinny: When it comes down to it, the Utah Utes have flourished playing the style of football that Billy Napier and staff want to play at Florida. A balanced offensive attack with a strong running game and a sound defense that limits the opponent’s possessions. This is not a contrast in styles -- it's southpaw against southpaw. Utah is the more experienced fighter. Which team flinches first will be key. The atmosphere of The Swamp should play a role with a raucous crowd and 90 percent humidity making life difficult for the Utes. Richardson, who Whittingham has stated Utah will account for in “virtually everything we do,” will put immense pressure on the Utah defense in the run game and off-schedule plays. The Florida defense will be sound and pressure Cam Rising to register three to four sacks. Richardson runs for one and passes for one. However, a late Tavion Thomas run seals it for the Utah Utes and they escape The Swamp with a close win Prediction-Utah 28 Florida 23

Photo TexansWire.USAToday With the NFL preseason wrapping up, many Florida Gators were in action competing for a roster spot the past few weeks. While some shined, others were looking to make that final 53-man cut list. Despite the downsizing of rosters, 39 Gators remain active in the NFL. Let’s see how a few fared within the pros. Dameon Pierce Dameon Pierce turned a massive number of heads this preseason for the Houston Texans and may have even secured the starting role. Over the course of the preseason, ProFootballFocus had a 94.2 grade on him, which qualifies him for the highest preseason grade of any running back since 2006. Pierce flashed many moments during his time here in Gainesville proving he is capable of being an every down back. With the Texans, Pierce has consistently displayed a combination of speed and cuts, making the first guy miss. To no Gator fans' surprise, Pierce has positioned himself well for a case at the top of Texan’s running back depth chart. Malik Davis The other part of the two-headed monster in the Florida backfield was Malik Davis. After clearing waivers, Davis reportedly plans to sign with the Cowboys’ practice squad after impressing during the offseason. Davis was undrafted and was signed by the Cowboys following the draft. Kairr Elam The 23rd pick in the 2022 Draft, Kairr Elam impressed for the Bills during this preseason. After showing his lockdown capabilities throughout the first three games, it will be too hard to keep Elam off the field for the Bills. With the recent news coming out that star cornerback, Tre’Davious White will start the season on reserve/PUP resulting in missing the first four games. This opens an opportunity for Elam to step in and make an immediate impact for a Super Bowl contender in the Bills. In over 41 coverage snaps, Elam had only 3 catches allowed on him. Elam seems to be representing DBU well. Zach Carter Carter is another Gator who blew expectations out of the water. He guaranteed his spot on the Cincinnati Bengals after showing his capability. His defining moment came when he made a strip-sack fumble against the Rams, giving Gator fans a pleasant memory. He played defensive end at Florida, but has transitioned to defensive tackle and now provides a pass-rushing element up the middle for the Bengals they needed last year. Practice Squad The below players are Florida alumni that did not make the 53-man roster. Some players have already signed or will have the opportunity to sign with a practice squad. Donovan Stiner - Pittsburgh Duke Dawson - Panthers Antonio Valentino - Seahawks Eddy Pineiro - Jets Quincy Wilson - Dolphins Jeff Driskel - Texans Will Grier - Cowboys Freddie Swain - Seahawks La’Mical Perine - Jets Final rosters come out for the NFL later this week

This will be the 1,121st kickoff of a Gator football game. Seven-hundred-fifty-one of them were victories, 431 losses and 40 were ties. In my time as a Florida follower, fan, and journalist, I cannot recall a more highly anticipated opening game than the one we’re about to witness against favored Utah. By BUDDY MARTIN GatorBaitMedia.com Editor The new sheriff has arrived just in time and, with the star pinned to his chest glistening brightly in the waning September sun, Billy Napier is about to be fully baptized in The Swamp. At a few ticks past 7 p.m. Saturday night, he’ll officially become a Florida Gator. A boy from Old Florida. He belongs to us now. It feels brand new. Napier seems to be a genuine deal, chosen by destiny. Head Gator. There have only been 28 before him, and five of those were-place-holding interims. The very first Head Gator more than a century ago was Pee Wee Forsythe – yes, Pee Wee -- at a place called The Ball Park near downtown Gainesville. This will be the 1,121st kickoff of a Gator football game. Seventy-hundred-fifty-one of them were victories, 431 losses and 40 were ties. In my time as a Florida follower, fan, and journalist, I cannot recall a more highly anticipated opening game than the one we’re about to witness against favored Utah. It represents more than just the start of a season. It’s a new beginning. About change. About hope. This moment for Napier has been 43 years in the making and it represents the culmination of a big dream. You wonder what thoughts and emotions will flow through his heart, mind and body right before kickoff, which is when he says he’ll “probably take it all in.” One, for sure, will be that of his dad, the late Bill Napier, for 16 years the no-nonsense coach at Murray County High in Dalton, GA. “All right, guys. The hays in the barn, so to speak,” Napier said before his final presser of the week, reaching back for that old, time-honored coach’s cliché which signals that just about all the prep is done. He did admit there were mental gymnastics ahead and he believes in the mantra “you keep studying for the test right up until the test.” What a test! The only opening game that comes to mind for Florida even resembling the challenge against No. 7 Utah was 1969’s upset of Houston (Playboy ranked #1) in which Florida upset the favored Cougars 59-34 after the famed John Reaves-to-Carlos Alvarez TD bomb on the game’s third play. There’s a conversation going on about “firsts” in the Napier era. Some of our readers-viewers-listeners have suggested that Napier pay homage to Steve Spurrier by calling one of his ball plays to start off the game. There’s another new face in the broadcast booth, Sean Kelley, along with color analyst Shane Matthews, who filled in a few times last year for Lee McGriff. I got to wondering what Kelley’s first words might be as he replaces Mick Hubert. So I texted him the following: “If I were going to Vegas to gamble on the first 2-3 words you’ll utter on air Saturday, which wud be the favorite? 1. “Hello Gator Nation …” 2. “I’m Sean Kelley…” 3. “Hi everybody …” 4. None of the above. 5. I have no clue. He texted back: “Have not given that much thought yet. Ha-ha!” How about: “The hay’s in the barn!”? In my conversation with highly regarded handicapper Danny Sheridan this week, he noted that this game could make the Utes’ season. He predicted that a victory would vault them into the potential Final Four stratosphere after beating an SEC team on the road in a notoriously difficult environment like The Swamp. He noted that there were very few tough opponents on their schedule beyond possibly USC and Oregon. And by the way, unofficially he’s taking Utah and laying the points, but won’t gamble on that game. For Florida, this re-boot is a bit of a reset, with Napier’s massive “army” taking over the last nine months and elevating the care-and-feeding of an athletic team to a new heights for success. His meticulous preparation and micro-management of each minute would seemingly qualify him as a good candidate for Stephen R. Covey’s updating of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change.” The key word here being “success.” Let’s see how much of that he will muster. Gator football, we hardly know ye anymore. But, oh what a glorious feeling to be going to Florida Field again — AKA Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, AKA Steve Spurrier Field. Same hallowed ground since 1930 when the new stadium held 22,000. I started watching Florida football when I was 13. Although I couldn’t begin to count my trips to Gainesville I’ve made since I first went there in the early 1950s (it’s probably over 200). I do remember sitting there in awe of Rick Casares kicking field goals in pre-game warmups that I swear were flying over the small Coca-Cola sign atop the fence in the north end zone all the way to Ichetucknee Springs. On Saturday, my son Brenden and cohort/friend Chris Spears will mosey up the highway north from Ocala about mid-afternoon toward our respective media assignments at Steve Spurrier-Florida Field. No matter how many times we cruise up US441/US301, there’s always a buzz in the air and a tingle of expectation. Each time I trek from Ocala to Gainesville, I feel blessed. Nature’s landscape evolves over football season, from the shimmering green pastures of late summer to late fall, and the colors, alone, are breathtaking, morphing to muted browns and tans. It even smells different from August to December. The pathways and corridors have changed a bit. Now there’s an interstate. Back then you had to drive through — not around — Micanopy and dodge the giant oak on the dead man’s curve, which some UF students tragically could not navigate. The pace of traffic has quickened. Forty years ago, the Lions -- or some civic club -- sold boxed lunches of fried chicken on roadside in McIntosh. You could pull off, pick up a couple of boxes, make change and be back on the road in a couple of minutes. And that was even before north-bound Gator fans could pluck their delicacies from Charles Seiler’s boiled (and roasted) peanuts in North Ocala. My late sister Shirley and I often stopped at Charlie’s place and loaded up. Shirley was such a popular customer that they kept her “hall of fame” photo under glass. I may stop for a bag of boiled on Saturday just for old time's sake. Back to the realities of 2022. This week we had to lay down our picks. Originally on Tuesday with my GatorBait team, I picked the Gators to lose to Utah on a missed field goal, 31-28. I said if the number in Vegas was 7.5 I couldn’t go “over.” However, since being coached up by Sheridan – and saying I reserved the right to change my mind – I have a different view. Of course, it sounds like a homer pick. But I remembered two things: 1) The best team doesn’t always win. 2) I believe in magic and have seen it before in The Swamp. I say the Gators make that field goal, go on to victory, 37-34, and win eight games in Billy Napier’s first season. There, I said it.

A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning: WILL THE FOURTH TIME BE A CHARM? We've been through this three times since Urban Meyer called it quits in 2010 and each time, Florida fans hoped and prayed that the new guy would deliver on his promises to restore the Gators to championship glory. Will Muschamp was the head coach in waiting at Texas. He grew up in Gainesville and was always Tony Lilly when he and his brothers played backyard football. Jim McElwain promised an offense so good that his dog Clarabelle could light up scoreboards for the Gators. Dan Mullen gave us 29 wins in his first 35 games, then somehow the switches flipped off and meltdown incurred. The Gators are 6-10 in their last 16 games and after three straight New Year’s Six bowl games, they suffered the indignity of losing to UCF in a pre-Christmas bowl game in Tampa. The way UCF fans celebrated that night, you would think that beating the Gators was far more important than their infamous mythical national championship of 2017. It sort of reminded us of how Georgia Southern fans went wild and crazy after beating the Gators in The Swamp in 2013. Losses like that just can’t happen again and it’s up to Napier to make sure of it. To right the Good Ship Gator he’s brought in in his “army” of analysts and recruiting specialists to implement a rebuild that can get the Gators back to the level they were from 1990-2010 (210-57-1) when they were the winningest college football program in the country. In the 11 years since, Muschamp, McElwain and Mullen have all been responsible for one losing season (Muschamp 2013, McElwain 2017, Mullen 2021). During that time the Gators have gone 87-52, which is tied for the 27th best record in the nation and third in the state behind Florida State (94-46) and UCF (92-47). Fortunately for Napier, he has a blueprint for plugging the holes in a listing ship left adrift by the previous coach. When he took over at Louisiana in 2018, the Ragin Cajuns were coming off three consecutive losing seasons. He went 7-7 that first year and got Louisiana to the Sun Belt Conference Championship Game. The Ragin Cajuns went 33-5 the last three years. The gap is enormous between football in the Fun Belt at Louisiana and football at Florida in the Southeastern Conference, yet nothing in Napier’s demeanor indicates that he’s the slightest bit overwhelmed by the task at hand. The Gators open the Napier era Saturday night (7 p.m., Ben Hill Griffin Stadium) against No. 7 Utah, last year’s Pac-12 champ and while every preseason magazine and poll has the Utes ranked in the top eight, Florida’s head coach seems unfazed. Oh, he says he’s got jitters, but you’d never know it watching him answer questions with the media. When he’s standing in front of the media, notebook or note cards in hand, Napier never seems caught by surprise by any questions. His answers are thorough and to the point. Unlike McElwain who wanted us to think that he’s nothing more than an older version of the cool kid in high school who drove the convertible or Mullen, who seemed to have this inherent need to prove he was the smartest guy in the room at all times, Napier comes across like he’s the most well-prepared, well-organized person on the planet. Listen to him and it’s not difficult to believe the Gators will win at least eight games this season, that nine is do-able and 10 not entirely out of the question if injuries are avoided and a break or two can be caught along the way. So how is all this going to play out Saturday night? It’s going to be 88-89 degrees at game time with humidity somewhere around 80 percent. Just a normal day in paradise if you’ve grown up in Florida. It’s not the heat that will have an adverse affect on the Utes, it’s the combination of heat and humidity. When the Utes leave Salt Lake City today, the temp will be mid-90s but the humidity will be somewhere around 23 percent, drying out to 10 percent in the afternoon. When the Gators have the football, they’re going to grind it to force Utah into stacking the box, at which point they’ll go over the top. Anthony Richardson won’t carry the ball a lot but when he gets to the edge Utah will be in trouble. Between the tackles, there will be a steady version of Nay’Quan Wright, Montrell Johnson, Trevor Etienne and Lorenzo Lingard. When the Gators throw it, you might be surprised to discover Ricky Pearsall isn’t the only UF receiver with speed enough to get open. Defensively, expect three things: (1) Florida will have answers for the Utah running game; (2) Patrick Toney running the creeper defense will leave Cameron Rising dazed and confused; and (3) Rising is going to think Brenton Cox Jr. lives in his backfield. This won’t be a Florida blowout win but … The Sayer says sooth!: FLORIDA 24, Utah 17 The SEC Soothsayer Utah State (0-0) at #1 Alabama: We know we’re just a day away from football in Tuscaloosa because Nick is cranky, complaining about rat poison all because Bama fans are talking about the Texas game and not about Utah State. That may have something to do with Alabama being favored to bushwhack Utah State by 41.5 points. They’re selling beer at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Record amounts will be sold because fans will be bored. The Sayer says sooth!: Sweet Home Alabama 56, Utah State 7 #23 Cincinnati (0-0) at #19 Arkansas: The Cincinnati Kid needs this game. Desperately. For the Bearcats to be thought of as anything more than a one-hit wonder they have to beat what will probably be the only ranked team they’ll play all season. The pressure is all on the Bearcats and not on the Wild Hogs. Fayette Nam will be rocking. The Sayer says sooth!: Ar-Kansas 30, Cincinnati 20 Mercer (1-0) at Auburn (0-0): Some folks are speculating that Utah State AD John Hartwell will be considered as the next Auburn AD. It won’t happen. Hartwell used to work for Allen Greene, the AD the Auburn alums ran out of town. Auburn wants someone who can come in and fire Bryan Harsin if he (a) doesn’t win 10 games and (b) beats Alabama. After Saturday, Harsin will only need nine more wins. The Sayer says sooth!: Auburn 51, Johnny Mercer 10 #11 Oregon (0-0) vs. #3 Georgia (0-0) in Atlanta: Nobody, not even Oregon coach Dan Lanning, wants to beat Georgia worse than Uncle Phil Knight. Uncle Phil has done everything but openly beg the Big Ten to take in the poor Duckies. If Oregon can beat the Poodles in Atlanta, Uncle Phil will burn up the phone lines trying to convince Kevin Warren that Oregon is worthy. Isn’t Bo Nix the Oregon QB? The Sayer says sooth!: Georgia On My Mind 31, Disco Ducks 14 Miami Ohio (0-0) at #20 Kentucky (0-0): Barring a miracle of healing the ten lepers proportions, Mark Stoops will get his 60th win as the head coach. That’s significant because it will tie Bear Bryant as the all-time winningest coach in UK history, a record that has stood since 1953, which tells you how inept the Wildcats have been for most of the last 69 years. The Sayer says sooth!: My Old Kentucky Home 31, Going Back to Miami 10 Memphis (0-0) at Mississippi State (0-0): History tells us that when Mike Leach has the same QB for three years, the third year will produce Star Wars numbers. Will Rogers, who never met a pass he didn’t like to throw, is going to have a monster year. The Sayer says sooth!: More Cowbell Please 38, Graceland State 17 Troy (0-0) at #21 Ole Miss (0-0): Lane Kiffin hasn’t named a starting QB between Jaxson Dart and Luke Altmeyer. You’d think this is the biggest mystery in the state since Billy Joe McCallister threw something off the Tallahatchee Bridge. It really doesn’t matter who starts. The Rebels will win this one by four or more touchdowns. The Sayer says sooth!: Mississippi Kid 42, Helen of Troy 10 Georgia State (0-0) at South Carolina (0-0): Spencer Rattler has had Gamecock fans shagging at Fat Harold’s in Myrtle Beach all summer long. Is it possible the folks who named the rooster mascot – The General – were inspired by General Johnson and the Chairman of the Board who made a beach music hit out of “Carolina Girls”? The Chickens are favored by only 12.5 points, which seems entirely too low considering this time last year draftniks had Rattler as the first player taken in the 2022 NFL Draft. The Sayer says sooth!: Foghorn Leghorn State 37, Downtown Atlanta State 17 Sam Houston (0-0) at #6 Texas A&M (0-0): They do not like Green Eggs and Ham in College Station. They do not like them Sam I Am. The best part of this one will be halftime with the Nationally Famous Fightin’ Texas Aggie Marching Band. The Sayer says sooth!: Aggie War Hymn 50, Sam I Am 10 Elon (0-0) at Vanderbilt (1-0): Gloria Vanderbilt scored only 189 points in 12 games last year. They got 1/3 of that in one swell foop last week against Hawai’i. At least 20,000 fans will venture bravely to the stadium Saturday to see if the Dores can do it again. The Sayer says sooth!: Gloria Vanderbilt 41, Elon Musk 7 Our SEC orphans in the Big 12 UTEP (0-1) at #9 Oklahoma (0-0): It’s a new era for the Okies from Muscogee. Jeff Lebby is the offensive coordinator and Dillon Gabriel is the QB so the offense will seem every bit as good as it was last year when Hot Rod Lincoln was the coach. The difference will be the defense. Venables will have the Sooners looking better on that side of the ball than they have in years. The Sayer says sooth!: Okie from Muscogee 45, UTEP 7 Louisiana-Monroe (0-0) at Texas (0-0): Monroe Doctrine, coached astutely by Little Terry Bowden, is in Austin for a cup of coffee and a big paycheck. Sark better deliver the goods or else Longhorn fans won’t be happy. The Sayer says sooth!: The Eyes of Texas 51, Monroe Doctrine 13 Thursday night in the SEC Tennessee (1-0) 59, Ball State (0-1) 10: Ball State was so bad that even Joe Milton (8-9, 113 yards, 1 TDP; 1-21 rushing) looked good throwing the ball. He didn’t complete a single pass to the other team. The Vols ran for 218 yards and threw for 351. Hendon Hooker threw for two TDs. The Vols travel to Pitt next week. Missouri (1-0) 52, Louisiana Tech (0-1) 24: This was a bad Lousy Tech team that Mizzou beat. Brady Cook got the start at QB and averaged only 7.3 per pass attempt while completing a pass to the Lousy Tech DBs. If Cook doesn’t look a lot better next week at K-State, a lot of Mizzou folks are going to be demanding Eli Drinkwitz make the switch to Southern Miss/Mississippi State transfer Jack Abraham. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: While we may not see an announcement that the College Football Playoff is expanding to 12 teams following the Board of Managers meeting today, expect an agreement to move toward expansion with a target date of 2024. Intricacies of the agreement may have to be ironed out, but nobody is going to object to a 12-team model. At some point the playoff will expand to 16 teams, but you have to walk before you can run. This is a huge step forward. It is no coincidence playoff expansion is targeting 2024. That’s when the Big Ten adds UCLA and Southern Cal and its 7-year, multi-billion dollar deal kicks in. It is also likely that Texas and Oklahoma will leave the Big 12 to join the SEC, with a contract renegotiation that will increase the league revenue to $1.5 billion a year from its media deal. By announcing it is beginning negotiations for a new media deal ahead of its 2025 expiration, the Big 12 is expected to allow Texas and Oklahoma to leave for the SEC, but not without exacting somewhere in the neighborhood of $200-250 in ransom. For that agreement, the Big 12 is likely to get a good – but not great – media rights deal from ESPN that should keep it close to its current $43 million per school level beginning in 2024. This will be a dagger to the heart of the Pac-12. Washington, Oregon, California and Stanford are unlikely to sign even a short term media deal with the Pac-12 since they expect to be scooped up by the Big Ten. When that happens Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado will join the Big 12 to form a 16-team league. With the Pac-12 ceasing to exist, we’ll be left with four power conferences, Notre Dame and the Group of Five, which could be Group of Four if Conference USA folds its tent.