Florida opened its 2023 season with a disappointing 24-11 loss on the road to No. 14 Utah.

It marked the debut of new Florida quarterback Graham Mertz, a player with a checkered career at Wisconsin who Billy Napier is hoping can bridge the gap at Florida. Mertz wasn’t the issue Thursday night. Florida couldn’t stop shooting itself in the foot.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes

Florida had the kind of sequence in the first half that loses you football games.

After Graham Mertz picked up 42 yards through the air from two plays, Florida was knocking on the door and looking like it could take a second-quarter lead on the Utes in Salt Lake City.

On a third-and-7 from the Utah 15, Florida was flagged for a delay of game.

After the third-and-12 play failed to pick up the first, Florida was flagged for a false start trying to convert a fourth-and-1.

Then it missed a 31-yard field goal from the Utah 14.

Ball goes back to the Utes. And, oh, by the way, Mertz had a man open for a touchdown before all the chaos. A Utah defender lost his man; Mertz was looking the other way. Instead of a 10-7 Florida lead or a 7-6 game, Utah gets the ball back with no damage done.

The drive stalled out at midfield thanks to a mishandled snap on second down and then a third-and-12 stop from the Gators. Florida was flagged for having two players on the field at the same time wearing the No. 3 jersey on Utah’s punt and the ball went back to the Utes, who promptly scored three plays later on a 27-yard quarterback keeper.

Florida was flagged four times in the first half. It had 8 yards of offense on 12 plays in the second quarter. It was the kind of disjointed start UF could ill afford at a place that is darn near impossible to win at in recent years. Facing a tenacious Utah defense, the Gators needed to keep things close.

So, naturally, they went into the halftime break down 17-3. And nothing got better.

The Gators finished with nine penalties. Some came at horrible times. They went 1-for-13 on third down. You expect a bit of sloppiness in Week 1. But Billy Napier’s team looked maddeningly undisciplined.

The run game abandoned UF

Remove the sacks — Utah had five of those.

Florida averaged 3.8 rushing yards on 16 attempts in the game. Trevor Etienne had seven carries for 25 yards. Montrell Johnson Jr. had 6 yards on three totes.

This is an offense that wants to be able to run the football to set up Graham Mertz in the pass game. The Utes played this one brilliantly. They shut down the run early and dared Florida to try to slow their pass rush late.

Even without the run game, Mertz was… serviceable? He completed 31 of his 44 passes for 333 yards and a touchdown. There was an interception, but Mertz hit his receiver in the hands and the ball bounced up into the air. Yes, he missed throws, but Utah was breathing down his neck far too much.

Utah brought pressure to affect Mertz. It didn’t respect the downfield pass game and it stifled the run. When Florida had its back against the wall late and had to throw, Utah pinned its ears back. Any semblance of a run game before the game got to that point might have changed things.

All eyes on Billy Napier now

Billy Napier is up against it now.

Narratives can be fickle. Napier should get more than a year and change to install his vision and build his foundation. But you can’t have three straight losing seasons at Florida and a losing record in 2023 will mark three straight.

Given the way the Gators looked in the opener, Napier’s seat is going to get a little hotter. The Gators outgained the Utes and scored just 11 points. Manageable mistakes were critical issues. Napier was clowned on social media.

That makes things tough. Don’t start any of the talk now. Napier doesn’t deserve that. But Florida’s play on Thursday doesn’t exactly help the issue.