No. 14 Utah vs. Florida: How to watch, listen to or stream the game

No. 14 Utah (0-0) vs. Florida (0-0)

Kickoff: Thursday, 6 p.m. MDT.
Venue: Rice-Eccles Stadium.
TV: ESPN.
Livestream: WatchESPN.
Radio: ESPN 700 AM/92.1 FM.
Series: Utah trails 0-2.
Weather: Partly cloudy with temperatures in the high 80s at kickoff.

The trends

For Utah: The Utes won the Pac-12 championship for the second year in a row last season, finishing 10-4 with a loss in the Rose Bowl to Penn State.

For Florida: The Gators finished 6-7 last year with a loss to Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl.

What to watch for

The big question entering Thursday is the status of Utah starting quarterback Cam Rising, who threw for 3,034 yards and 26 touchdowns last season.

Rising, who went down with an ACL tear in the third quarter of the Utes’ Rose Bowl loss to Penn State, has been rehabbing from surgery and has said all along that the plan was to be ready for the opener.

But it all comes down to doctors’ approval.

As of Wednesday, it’s most likely that backup quarterback Bryson Barnes will be under center.

Barnes was listed as the No. 2 quarterback on Utah’s depth chart released last week.

A walk-on junior, Barnes has the most in-game quarterback experience of all the backups.

His first competitive action for the Utes came in the 2022 Rose Bowl vs. Ohio State, where he took over at QB with 4:14 left after Rising’s injury in the fourth quarter, throwing a game-tying touchdown pass.

In the 2022 season, he started a game on the road against Washington State on short notice — Barnes didn’t take starting reps before that game — and was 17 for 27, throwing for 175 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions in a Utah win.

Then in the 2023 Rose Bowl, he took over in the third quarter after Rising’s injury, passing for 175 yards, a touchdown and an interception with a 53% completion rate in Utah’s loss.

If Barnes starts, it will be the first time in his career where he would have taken reps as QB1 in practice leading up to the game.

Johnson will still have packages designed for him vs. Florida.

He brings more athleticism to the position and poses a bigger running threat. The redshirt freshman played in four games in 2022, mostly in designed running packages. He had five rushes for 51 yards and two touchdowns. His only pass attempt of the season was a 16-yard touchdown to Logan Kendall against Stanford.

Key player

Montrell Johnson Jr., Florida running back: The junior running back will be a key part of the Gators’ offense, especially in the first game with a new quarterback, Wisconsin transfer Graham Mertz, under center. Johnson Jr. rushed for 841 yards and 10 touchdowns last season, including 75 and a score against Utah.

Johnson Jr. and sophomore running back Trevor Etienne (719 yards, six touchdowns in 2022) will be a one-two punch in the backfield for Florida.

Quotable

“The SEC personnel that they got. I mean you look at the NFL and the SEC has more players in the NFL than anybody. Hands down. It’s not even close. And that’s what you see with Florida. You see a bunch of guys that are physical. They got great size, speed, strength, quickness, I mean just what you’d expect out of a big-time SEC team. I know they were down a little bit last year, but they’re the Florida Gators. They got guys.” — Utah coach Kyle Whittingham

“Utah’s a very formidable opponent. This is a Pac-12 champ back-to-back years and certainly a ton of respect for Coach Whittingham, Coach Scalley, Coach Ludwig, just the brand of football. Had the chance to compete against them in the past. Certainly last year was a heck of a football game, but they definitely have an identity and it’s one of the reasons why they’ve been able to perform with consistency and be a contender year in, year out.” — Florida coach Billy Napier

Next up

Utah: at Baylor on Sept. 9.
Florida: vs. McNeese on Sept. 9.

Utah schedule

Aug. 31 — vs. Florida (6 p.m MDT, ESPN)
Sept. 9 — at Baylor (10 a.m. MDT, ESPN)
Sept. 16 — vs. Weber State (12 p.m. MDT, Pac-12 Network)
Sept. 23 — vs. UCLA
Sept. 29 — at Oregon State (7 p.m. MDT, Fox Sports 1)
Oct. 14 — vs. California
Oct. 21 — at USC
Oct. 28 — vs. Oregon
Nov. 4 — vs. Arizona State
Nov. 11 — at Washington
Nov. 18 — at Arizona
Nov. 25 — vs. Colorado