Utah coach stresses importance of UF game to Pac-12

The 2022 college football season is just over the horizon but the months leading up to it have had no shortage of drama. While the usual din surrounding the recruiting wars continued through the summer doldrums, the prospect of the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten has shaken the very foundations of the collegiate sport.

Interestingly enough, the Florida Gators will face off against one of the west coast conference’s schools to open up its schedule in the Swamp on September 3 — the Utah Utes. While the visitors are expected to arrive in Gainesville as a top-10 team in the nation, there are actually greater implications to the matchup in Gainesville.

Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham offered the following during Pac-12’s football media days recently in regards to the importance of his season opener on the other side of the country.

“That’s very important. Every game obviously is important. But when you have a chance to go down to SEC country, play a storied program like Florida with their history, a tradition, in a place like the Swamp, that’s a challenge for our guys. It’s important for the Pac-12 to make noise on the national scene whenever we get opportunities like that. There’s several other teams in the league that are going to have similar opportunities. We have to make the most of it. If you want to gain respect, gain national attention, you got to come out and win some of those games. Hopefully, we can go down there and play like we’re capable of.”

Respect. That is what the Southeastern Conference continues to demand and even a Gators squad that has been on the down-swing still represents a formidable foe for non-conference opponents. The Pac-12 is currently imperiled by a rapidly-changing landscape in collegiate athletics and showing up on the big stage against a marquee opponent could send a reverberating message throughout the nation.

However, if Florida ends up flopping this season it quickly becomes a…