The 2024 season could have hardly started worse for Florida.
The Gators were overmatched at home in a 41-17 blowout loss to Miami on Saturday. The Hurricanes were simply better everywhere and set a record for most points scored against the Gators in a Week 1 game in Gainesville.
Outside of a 71-yard touchdown run by Montrell Johnson in the second quarter that briefly gave Florida fans some hope, the Gators’ offense couldn’t move the ball efficiently against Miami. QB Graham Mertz, entering his second season as Florida’s starter, was just 11-of-20 for 91 yards and had to leave the game in the second half after he was hit following an interception.
Overall, the Gators ran for just 139 yards. When you take away Johnson’s big run, that’s 28 carries for 68 yards.
Florida and coach Billy Napier entered 2024 in a predicament. The Gators were looking to take a leap after back-to-back seven-loss seasons in Napier’s first two years in Gainesville. But it’s hard to see how any jump will happen, even if Mertz is able to return in a week.
Florida entered the season with the toughest projected schedule in the country. After a game against FCS opponent Samford in Week 2, No. 20 Texas A&M visits in Week 3. And things really get tough over the second half of the season. After a midseason trip to No. 15 Tennessee on Oct. 12, Florida plays No. 1 Georgia, No. 4 Texas, No. 13 LSU and No. 6 Ole Miss in a four-game November stretch before a season-ending game at Florida State.
Simply put, a win over Miami would have gone a long way to bowl eligibility. And Florida didn’t even come close to doing that.
Things were so bad on Saturday that Napier found himself on the end of a not-so-subtle retweet from former coach Dan Mullen. The current ESPN analyst was fired at Florida with a game to go in the 2021 season as Florida was 5-6. Florida was a combined 21-5 in Mullen’s first two years at the school before going 8-4 in his third season and sliding to six losses in his last.
Napier, meanwhile, is already the first Florida coach to post-back-to-back losing seasons since Raymond Wolf in 1946 and 1947. Patience was already thin among many Florida fans and it got thinner on Saturday.
Moving on from Napier if things go especially south, however, is not exactly financially feasible. He’s owed $26 million — the guaranteed money remaining on his contract — if Florida wants to make a move at any point during the season.
Of course, there’s still plenty of time for Florida to bounce back. And if the Gators do, Napier should get a lot of credit. Navigating that difficult schedule with a winning record would be impressive. It also seems unlikely at this point.
Here are the winners and losers from the first full weekend of the 2024 college football season.
Iowa: The Hawkeyes were supposed to blow out Illinois State. And that’s what they did in a 40-0 win. But it’s worth noting that Iowa rolled up 492 total yards against the Redbirds. That’s the most yardage for an Iowa offense since 2019. Iowa got off to a slow start on Saturday but got rolling in the second half as it scored 34 points in the final 30 minutes. The Hawkeyes are going to be dangerous in 2024 if the defense is still excellent and the offense is merely average.
Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith: The true freshman may already be one of the best wide receivers in college football. The five-star recruit caught six passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns in the Buckeyes’ 52-6 win over Akron on Saturday. Smith immediately stepped into the starting lineup and is going to be a go-to receiver right away for the Buckeyes. Just look at this amazing one-handed catch he made against the Zips.
Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola: Smith wasn’t the only true freshman with a big game on Saturday. Five-star QB Dylan Raiola made his first start for his dad’s alma mater and was 19-of-28 for 238 yards and two touchdowns in the Huskers’ 40-7 win over UTEP.
Raiola looked very comfortable in his first start and he’s well-positioned for a breakout in Week 2 when Colorado comes to Nebraska. The game will be one of the most-watched of the weekend thanks to the attention surrounding the Buffaloes. If Raiola can go toe-to-toe with Shedeur Sanders, the Patrick Mahomes lookalike will become an even bigger name. Heck, even Mahomes was taking notice on Saturday.
Utah QB Cameron Rising: It was great to see Rising back on the field Thursday night after he missed all of the 2023 season thanks to the knee injury he suffered in the Rose Bowl at the end of the 2022 season. Rising was incredibly efficient against FCS Southern Utah too. Rising threw for five touchdowns and 254 yards on just 15 attempts. TE Brant Kuithe caught three of those TDs. He also missed the entirety of the 2023 season with a knee injury.
Arkansas OC Bobby Petrino: OK, Arkansas didn’t exactly schedule a tough Week 1 opponent in FCS Arkansas-Pine Bluff. But it’s still incredibly difficult to score 10 TDs in 10 possessions and that’s exactly what Petrino’s offense did Thursday night. The Razorbacks won 70-0 and didn’t kick a field goal, punt or turn the ball over at all. It was a heck of a return to Fayetteville for the former Arkansas head coach as the Razorbacks racked up 687 yards.
Losers
Clemson: The Tigers have fallen a long way from the days of playing for national titles. And it’s been a while since Clemson has scored a TD against Georgia too. The No. 14 Tigers lost 34-3 to the No. 1 Bulldogs on Saturday and went a second straight game without finding the end zone against Georgia. You have to go all the way back to 2014 to find the last time Clemson scored a TD against the Dawgs.
It was hard not to notice how Georgia gashed Clemson through the air with transfers too. Two of Carson Beck’s three touchdown passes were caught by receivers coach Kirby Smart added through the transfer portal. Clemson, meanwhile, has shied away from the portal under coach Dabo Swinney and faded from national title contention since the portal’s introduction.
Virginia Tech: Oh, what a bad start to the season for the Hokies. Virginia Tech entered 2024 with most if its team back from 2023 and looked poised to contend for the ACC title. That’s still very much in play, but Saturday was a disappointment. The Hokies went down 17-0 to Vanderbilt before losing 34-27 in overtime. Yeah, VT gets credit for coming back to take the lead in the second half, but the Hokies shouldn’t have been forced to do that. QB Kyron Drones’ cramping at the end of the game was detrimental too. Drones appeared in just one play during the Hokies’ OT possession.
West Virginia: The Mountaineers entered their season opener against Penn State as underdogs. It was unrealistic to expect West Virginia to win. But you also can’t blame Mountaineer fans for entering Saturday’s game with some optimism after a 9-4 season in 2023. Instead, that optimism was vanquished and those WVU fans who attended the game had to wait out a 2.5-hour thunderstorm delay too.
WVU had just 246 total yards in their 34-12 loss to the Nittany Lions. West Virginia’s high-powered rushing offense finished with only 85 yards on 37 attempts and the Mountaineers turned the ball over three times.
Minnesota: The Gophers lost a very winnable game Thursday night against North Carolina. Minnesota fell 19-17 after Dragan Kesich missed a would-be game-winning field goal as time expired. The Gophers held North Carolina to just 252 total yards and limited Tar Heels QBs Max Johnson and Conner Harrell to just 105 passing yards on 23 attempts.
Minnesota’s offense, however, wasn’t much better. The Gophers rushed for just 78 yards on 33 attempts, yet had the lead with less than four minutes to go. But the Minnesota defense gave up 51 yards on the first two plays of North Carolina’s final drive as the Tar Heels’ Noah Burnette hit a go-ahead field goal with 1:44 to go.
