South Bound & Down
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SEC Football: 4 Biggest Takeaways after Week 1 Games

By Patrick Previty

TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA - SEPTEMBER 3: Isaiah Bond #17 of the Alabama Crimson Tide runs away from Paul Fitzgerald #32 of the Utah State Aggies at Bryant Denny Stadium on September 3, 2022 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Photo by Brandon Sumrall/Getty Images)
TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA - SEPTEMBER 3: Isaiah Bond #17 of the Alabama Crimson Tide runs away from Paul Fitzgerald #32 of the Utah State Aggies at Bryant Denny Stadium on September 3, 2022 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Photo by Brandon Sumrall/Getty Images) /
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Florida Gators quarterback Anthony Richardson (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images) /

2. Florida steals the weekend

In the biggest upset of the week, the Gators beat a top 10 Utah team at home and got first-year head coach Billy Napier a huge win in his debut.

Utah was coming off a Rose Bowl appearance last season and returned their starting quarterback Cam Rising.

And for the first part of the game, despite Florida hanging in and even leading at halftime, the atmosphere of the Swamp didn’t seem to be affecting the Utes too much.

But as the game wore on, it was the Anthony Richardson show. Richardson rushed for 3 touchdowns, and his last was with 1:05 left on the clock.

Rising then led the Utes down to the other side of the field trying to win the game but threw a pick in the end zone.

Verdict: Florida will be good in Napier’s first year

Florida came away with a close victory and spoiled a lot of Pac-12 fans’ hopes for Utah this year.

This win showed us that the Gator players have already bought in and that Richardson is the real deal.

I don’t know exactly what to expect from the Gators next week against Kentucky but my gut tells me they can win that game.

Now they do play Texas A&M and Georgia back-to-back later in the season so I don’t know where they will finish, but they won’t be an easy win like they were at times last year, that much is certain.

Bonus Verdict: Pac-12 officially hitting the panic button

All college football fans should come away with the conclusion, if they didn’t already believe this, that SEC football is simply on another level from the rest of the competition.

And not only that, but that the Pac-12 is really struggling to hang in with the top teams in each conference.

I don’t think anybody thought that Oregon was going to win on Saturday; they were 16 point dogs but this Utah loss really hurts.

The Utes were everybody’s hot pick to sneak into the playoff but they couldn’t even beat a mid-level Florida squad.

It’s not a good look for the conference which now looks to USC, who might still be a year away, to represent them on the national stage.

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