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The Florida football team started their 2023 season in disappointing fashion on Thursday night with a 24-11 road loss against a shorthanded Utah football team. Florida let up a 70-yard touchdown on Utah's first play from scrimmage, and the Gators were never able to catch up after that. They were able to hang around with the Utes for a while, but Florida ultimately made too many mistakes that put the game farther and farther out of reach. A couple of false starts were drive killers in short yardage situations early on, but a bizarre penalty on a punt return seemed to completely flip the momentum of the game in Utah's favor.
After going down 7-0 early, Florida football did a good job of settling into the game and regrouping. The Gators kicked a field goal and got a stop to force a punt that would give them the ball back. However, on the punt return, Florida had two players wearing #3 on the field, and the refs threw a flag. One player was supposed to change to #33 on special teams, but didn't, and the Utes got a first down out of it to keep the drive going. When you give teams a second chance in college football, they usually make you pay, and Utah made Florida pay. The Utes drove right down the field and scored another touchdown to go up 14-3. The game was never close from that point on.
Florida had two players wearing no. 3 on the field at the same time for a Utah punt, which resulted in a penalty and a first down for the Utes.
Utah would score a touchdown a few plays laterpic.twitter.com/oT18tEkylK
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) September 1, 2023
At the end of the day, Florida didn't play all that poorly. It was a hostile environment against a good team, and if it weren't for a lot of mistakes on penalties, the game could've been much closer. The Gators will look to bounce back next week at home against McNeese football.
