Florida vs. No. 14 Utah NCAA football Week 1 odds, trends: Bettors split with Utes QB Cam Rising out

No. 14 Utah will open the season Thursday night at home looking for some payback against the unranked Florida Gators, but the Utes will be without one of the Pac-12's best quarterbacks in two-time all-league pick Cam Rising as he recovers from a torn ACL suffered in last season's Rose Bowl. Former walk-on Bryson Barnes will start under center, which has led to some interesting betting splits. Click here for model sims.

Week ago when it was thought Rising might make it back for the opener, Utah was as much as a 9-point favorite. The Utes are now down to -4.5 at BetMGM despite taking 63% of the bets and 61% of the money on the spread. Florida was +260 on the moneyline but is down to +165, and taking huge leans with 82% of the bets and 76% of the money. The total has dropped from 48.5 to 44 points with 45% of the bets and 53% of the money on the Under.

Florida rallied last year in Gainesville to beat No. 7 Utah 29-26 in Week 1, but those Gators also had QB Anthony Richardson, the No. 4 overall pick in this year's draft by the Colts. Richardson was excellent that day in the Swamp, completing 17 of 24 passes for 168 yards and no picks while rushing 11 times for 106 yards and three scores. Florida's new starting QB is Wisconsin transfer Graham Mertz. He was 19-13 as a starter with the Badgers but completed only 59.5% of his passes with 26 picks. Mertz is -145 to throw an INT tonight.

Florida finished 6-7 under first-year coach Billy Napier. It was the second-worst record by a Gators first-year head coach since 1950. The Gators lost their other five games in 2022 against ranked teams. They are 2-12 in their past 14 road games vs. ranked schools and have lost four straight.

Utah is a terrific program starting its final Pac-12 season -- it is the two-time defending champion -- before heading to the Big 12. Utah is 28-0 non-conference home games since 2007 and has won 23 straight home games with fans in attendance (its last such loss came in 2018 vs. Washington). Yet the Utes have lost their first game of the season against an FBS opponent for three straight years. Last year it was Florida, in 2022 it was at BYU and in 2020 it was home to USC, but there were no fans due to COVID.

Rising started the past two seasons for Utah and needs nine wins and 24 passing TDs to set school records for both. In the Florida loss last year, he threw for 216 yards with a TD and pick and rushed for 91 yards. Perhaps he's ready for another tough test and future Big 12 preview at Baylor next Saturday.

Barnes, a former walk-on, played in 10 games with one start last year, going 37-of-57 passing for 430 yards with four TDs and two picks while adding 20 carries for 116 yards. Expect some special packages for redshirt freshman QB Nate Johnson, a former track star who can do serious damage on the ground. He played in four games last year, recording one completion for a 16-yard touchdown and five rushes for 51 yards and two touchdowns.

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