'Missed opportunities' show where Utes need to go to take next step as program

GAINESVILLE — As the chants reigned down in The Swamp, it was hard to disagree with the sentiment of the crowd.

S-E-C! S-E-C! S-E-C!

The chant was meant to be an intimidation tactic from the sold-out crowd of 90,799 and to show the conference's dominance over a Pac-12 school coming to Gainesville. Sure, Utah came into the game ranked No. 7 in the country, but there was no stopping an SEC power — even if Florida is currently in a rebuild after a previous down season.

Not in SEC country or The Swamp.

In the SEC, it's a different kind of football — or at least that's what the crowd wanted the Utes to remember.

But for the final 1:25 of the game (and all the moments that led up to the final drive), Utah gave the crowd something to sweat about. The risk of ending a 32-game home-opener win streak was in real sight as the Utes attempted to overturn Florida's 3-point lead.

Maybe the crowd never doubted, but the tension was at an all-time high in the most attended home opener in Florida program history. Utah was in the game and battling toe-to-toe with the home team.

As Utah marched down the field and got to Florida's 6-yard line, the collective thought was the game was destined for nothing less than overtime, and then all bets were off. But as Utah attempted to drain the clock, while also trying to give themselves a chance to score, Utah quarterback Cam Rising made a blunder and threw an interception right into the hands of linebacker Amari Burney.

Rising's intended receiver, tight end Dalton Kincaid, had just tripped before the throw and Burney read the play perfectly to end what could have been a storybook finish for the Utes in The Swamp.

S-E-C! S-E-C!

Instead, it was a somber Rising and Utah team trying to deal with the aftermath of a hurried play that had a world of consequences attached to the finality of a game-sealing interception in the end zone.

"Just not very happy about it; that's it," Rising said after the game.

To add insult to injury, the team's flight out of Gainesville had mechanical issues and the team was stranded until late Sunday. Assistant coaches scrambled to nearby Jacksonville in the morning to secure any remaining seats available on Delta flights to get home as soon as possible to prepare for a Week 2 game against Southern Utah.

The players, however, were left in Gainesville to await a new plane to take them back home — another harsh reminder that The Swamp never lets go.

Saturday's was also another big game — separated by nine months — where Utah fell short by just 3 points. It was proof that Utah could go toe-to-toe with blue blood programs like Ohio State and Florida, but the program still has more to do before it reaches the next pinnacle of the ever-growing mountain of college football.

The move from good to great as a program is a difficult climb and one not to be taken lightly — just ask Oregon how difficult that can be, even if you hire one of the coaches from the reigning national champion. Utah has made strides, but there's still a long journey ahead of them.

Brant Kuithe said the game came down to "a lot of missed opportunities" — a goal-line stop, a decision to not kick a field goal and lastly the interception. In a tight game in hostile territory, the margin for error is slim, especially as a team with a target on its back.

"We kind of shot ourselves in the foot, but give them credit because they made stops when needed," Kuithe said. "They're a good team, but we've just got to bounce back from this one and go on to next week and try to go 1-0."

For Utah, it's now finding ways to limit the small mistakes and climb the mountain — all as the sport continues to change and conferences like the Big Ten and SEC make it even more difficult for programs like Utah to consistently stay at the top. But it's the world Utah hopes to be in.

Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham wants the program to be in as many big-time games as possible as it helps his team get better.

"You can win a game against a lesser opponent and have a bunch of things that are masked, because you're so superior physically and athletically that it hides itself," Whittingham said. "A game like this will expose everything that you need to work on and where your deficiencies are. In that regard, I don't regret playing these guys.

"It's a great opportunity for our university, for our team. And it's not like we're sitting here saying, 'Oh, why don't we have to play these guys?' We're excited to play these guys."

But it's always a tough reminder that Utah still has a ways to go.

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