What are Florida’s most important conference games in 2022?
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The 2022 Florida Gators will be the first group to wear the orange and blue under Billy Napier, and there’s immediate pressure on the first-year head coach to succeed. A national championship isn’t expected in his first campaign, but there need to be clear signs that he’s righting the ship after the Dan Mullen experiment failed miserably.
One way he can do that is by getting a win over the team that Mullen lost to twice during his tenure, Kentucky. The first loss broke a winning streak that lasted more than three decades and the second came a month and a half before he was fired. With that background, it’s no surprise to see the Wildcats and Gators’ Sept. 10 matchup on Jesse Simonton of On3‘s list of each SEC East team’s most-important conference games of the season.
Simonton also points out that Florida opens the season against Utah, which is expected to enter the year as a top-15 program. Starting off 0-2 might send Gator Nation into a full-blown panic, and Napier’s seat will only continue to heat up.
“It’s a pivotal game for Napier, who needs to avoid a potential 0-2 home start but also reassert UF’s former dominance over Kentucky that was lost during the Dan Mullen era,” Simonton wrote.”A win could spearhead Florida to a solid season, possibly exceeding expectations in Year 1. A loss could mean the Gators must claw their way to bowl eligibility.”
Florida pops up again on the list as Tennessee‘s most-important conference game of the year on Sept. 24 in Knoxville. The Gators have won 16 of the last 17 games against the Vols, but Josh Heupel’s team is ready to make a run. If Florida is coming off the aforementioned disaster scenario where it starts the season 0-2, this very well could be the most important game of the year for the Gators (especially after the baseball team took an impromptu photo shoot with the team’s equipment).
Of course, Napier could earn plenty of leeway with the fanbase if he leads the team through these early-season tests. A 2-1 or 3-0 start would have even the staunchest of non-believers on his side.
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