Utah at Florida Prediction For Week 1

Utah Utes

There is so much uproar over UCLA and USC leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten, but I really don't know why. They have a grand total of one Pac-12 Conference championship over the last 13 seasons to their name, so who really cares? Want to know the two teams that have owned the Pac-12 over the last few years? Oregon and Utah. No one in the conference has been as competitive as those two teams over the last five years or so. The Utes continue to put together great lines, great defenses, and great running games year after year under Kyle Whittingham. They are just so consistent, and this year promises to be more of the same as they look to own the conference again.

There have been rumors that they want to join the Big-12, and even if they do, they are still right there in the mix to be the best program in the conference. As long as this formula stays in place that has gotten them this far, it really doesn't matter which conference they play in. They will be competitive. This season in the Pac-12, you can expect another appearance in the Championship game with or without USC and UCLA.

Florida Gators

In 2020, Florida pushed a great Alabama national championship team to the brink in the SEC Championship. In 2021, they were good enough to be within a bad two-point conversion play call of taking the Crimson Tide to overtime, and that was after having to completely change their offense that year after losing players to the draft. They lost two tight road games to Kentucky and LSU that could’ve gone either way, and then had a bad month to end the season. That apparently was enough to get rid of Dan Mullin and his coaching staff, which still doesn't make much sense to me, but it is what it is.

So, in comes Billy Napier, who I believe is one of the brightest young minds in college football. He's 43, which isn't super young, but he knows what he is doing and he knows what is happening around the NCAA right now. He should’ve been the Arizona State head coach in 2018 after serving as the offensive coordinator, but he apparently needed success at a small gig before landing a big job.

Well, he certainly did that. He went 40-12 in four years at Louisiana with two Sun Belt championships, two top 16 finishes, three double-digit win seasons, and four division titles. I think that is enough to land a job as high profile as Florida is. Now he'll bring his high-powered offense to the sunshine state, and he is poised for success. All he has to do is make sure he doesn't make the same mistake that his predecessor did: go on a three-game losing streak. How horrible.

Prediction

This is a very tough one, and that is outlined by the extremely close line. Both teams have the potential to be something special, although this season I would argue that Utah is in a better position. Still, it is very hard not to go with Florida here at home with a guy I think is brilliant calling the shots now. Let's put it this way: at the current line of -2.5, I'd side with Utah. If it gets to 3, I'll take the points with the Gators.

Lean: Utah -2.5 (Florida at +3 if available)