Utah at Florida 9/3/22 - College Football Picks & Predictions

The Utah Utes visit the Florida Gators on Saturday September 3 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida to open the college football regular season for both teams. Utah was 10-4 overall and 8-1 in the Pac-12 last season. Returning quarterback Cameron Rising took over the starting job midway through the season last year and led the Utes to a Pac-12 regular season title. Running back Tavion Thomas returns after rushing for 1,108 yards and 21 touchdowns last season.

The leading receivers for Utah will be Brant Kuithe at tight end while Dalton Kincaid, who caught eight touchdown passes last season, returns to play opposite Kuithe. The wide receivers corps is inexperienced but Devaughn Vele returns after averaging 17 yards per reception last year as a freshman. Utah's offensive line has three starters returning and will be one of the Pac-12’s best.

The Florida Gators finish the 2021 college football season 6-7 overall and 2-6 in the SEC. Billy Napier has taken over as head coach of the Gators. Florida will have a more up-tempo offense under Napier who had a great deal of success over the last four years with Louisiana, winning a pair of Sun Belt championships. Florida will have a strong offensive line thanks to transfers from Louisiana following Napier.

Anthony Richardson will be the starting quarterback for the Gators and is expected to one day play in the NFL. Running back Montrell Johnson, who transferred from Louisiana, will be the No. 1 back behind Richardson. Lorenzo Lingered, Nay’Quan Wright and Demarcus Bowman will also see plenty of time at running back. The top receiver will be Justin Shorter and playing opposite Shorter will be Arizona State transfer Ricky Pearsall.