The crowd is on its feet as Anthony Richardson gives the Gators the lead in the fourth quarter. There is a time and a place for this.
Anthony Richardson showed flashes of his potential as a backup for the Gators. He was their starter on Saturday.
The largest crowd for a season opener in school history was in attendance for Florida's win over Utah. He did everything the Gators needed, from a 2-point conversion that left multiple defenders lying on the turf, to a huge fourth-and-2 conversion, to the game-winning 2-yard touchdown run.
Richardson entered the game with three rushing touchdown in his career. The performance helped Billy Napier get his first win at Florida while giving the Utahs a heartbreaking loss to open the season.
He said that his wife could call plays for Richardson. His legs are a big deal. Tonight, you watched it. There was a fourth-down play in the last drive. The 2-point conversion needs to be done. One day, he did the same thing. I'm talking about the situation.
We're figuring out that he's a special player.
Richardson said he worked on his nerves after the first few games. Richardson said that with the game on the line, he was told to score the game winner.
Richardson said that his heart sort of froze. I hadn't heard those words before. In a crowd of that size, it's especially difficult. The team trusts me because I have the ball in my hands. They trust me to make a play. They trust me for that.
Utah was able to get the ball back with 1:45 left in the game and drive all the way to the Florida 6-yard line. The victory was secured on the second-and- goal play. A solid performance from Rising, who went 22-of-32 for 216 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 91 yards, was marred by the pick up.
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said that it wasn't his best throw. He'd like that back.
Utah missed a lot of opportunities in the red zone. They got inside the line twice and came up empty handed. The red zone was converted into touchdown territory by Florida.
The Utah offense was able to push Florida all over the field at times. Utah averaged 5.8 yards per carry. Florida's offensive line was able to push Utah around, too, because it found a way to make the plays when it mattered. The Gators averaged 7.3 yards a run.
There was a lot of that because of Richardson. His ability to run and create plays makes him a dynamic player who still has a full season ahead of him to improve.
In a game that went down to the wire, Florida showed what it could do.
A year ago, Florida lost six of its final nine games after being ranked 13th in the preseason. The rapid decline of the program caused many to question the direction of the program.
Richardson and Montrell Johnson Jr., both transfers from Louisiana, are part of the running back room that will have to rely on the run thanks to the disciplined approach preached by the new coach.
One of his friends who had worked at Florida told him that the program had the most competitive players he had ever seen. He thinks that Florida was able to pull off the upset.
The group has fight in it. There's a little bit of a different edge about them. We have a lot of work to do, the execution wasn't always what we wanted. We were fortunate to overcome many mistakes tonight, but the intangibles that the team showed, they responded right up until the end and they made a play.
We have a lot of work to do." It is a special moment when we win a game. We're going to have fun and then we're going to get ready for SEC play.
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