Points After Week 1 Thursday Night: A Punk Rock Ode to Season Openers

This edition of The Press Break Points After is brought to you by punk rock. With an oft-repeated theme of Week 1 Thursday commemorating this night marking the Florida Gators’ first non-conference game outside of the Sunshine State since 1991, and their first regular-season trip West since 1983, A Passage in Time provides us a fitting jumping-off point.

Florida losing a 24-11 decision that was considerably more lopsided than the final score indicates suggests it may be another 40 years before the Gators venture out of the Swamp again for the regular season.

Utah’s first play from scrimmage set an ominous tone for Florida — and not just from the perspective of its Week 1 contest.

After last season’s 6-7 record, concluded with a blowout loss to Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl, second-year Florida coach Billy Napier came into the 2023 opener needing his team to show some fight.

Let’s be clear: That feels like an absolutely insane thing to have to write about a coach in his 14th game with a program. And yet, the lead headline when I opened the ESPN app to peruse kickoff times earlier Thursday spelled out how expectations have shaped reality for college football:

Will Florida Fans Have Patience for Billy Napier’s Deliberate Approach?

UF has cut the line on other coaches, Jim McElwain and Napier’s predecessor Dan Mullen, not long after considerably higher peaks than Napier’s reached in his brief tenure. But say Thursday’s loss is the harbinger of yet another coaching change to come in Gainesville: What does that accomplish?

Urban Meyer left Florida in 2010. Since his departure, Napier’s the program’s fourth head coach.

Urban Meyer left Utah in 2004. Since his departure, Utah’s had one coach, Kyle Whittingham.

The circumstances certainly aren’t one-to-one, but Utah endured trying times in its first few years as a Pac-12 member. The Utes missed the postseason with losing records in back-to-back 2012 and 2013 seasons.

What becomes of the program if Utah brass makes a change amid the growing pains?

Now, the prevailing thought behind increasingly quick coaching changes is that a program is at a competitive disadvantage committing to making something work that just isn’t. And there’s validity to the thought process.

However, repeatedly hitting the restart button before a direction can develop doesn’t seem to be working for some of these programs chasing past success.

It’s been 15 years since Florida’s last national championship; 17 years past between the Gators’ last title run and, before tonight, their last non-conference game played outside of Florida when they visited Syracuse.

That’s quite A Passage in Time.

Florida is at risk of joining Nebraska, another titan of past generations that has found itself stuck in a loop of mashing reset.

Thursday’s Big Ten matchup against Minnesota kicked off the Matt Rhule era — the sixth different head-coaching regime at Nebraska in the 21st Century.

If you’re bracing for a snap judgment on Rhule after one game Nebraska led for much of the way, losing only on a spectacular toe-tap touchdown catch and a 47-yard field goal, you’re in the wrong place.

I loved the Rhule hire and anticipate him replicating the success his teams at Temple and Baylor reached. It’s worth noting neither the Owls nor Bears won conference championships but both were in the mix. If that’s enough to placate a fan base and athletic administration that has spent a quarter-century chasing the national title, I can’t say with any certainty.

But the Cornhuskers reaching levels both Temple and Baylor experienced under Rhule would be an undeniable upgrade from their current situation.

A tip of the cap is in order for Arizona Daily Star columnist Michael Lev, who inspired this all-too-fitting punk-rock entry in Points After: With Nebraska racking up a stunning 14th loss in 16 one-possession games since the begining of the 2021 season, the Cornhuskers’ penchant for heartbreak parallels the curse that once plagued Clemson known as Clemsoning, or the curse that continues to vex Washington State known as Cougin’ It.

My suggested name for this phenomenon? Husker Don’t, a reference to the first-wave punk band Husker Du. It works especially well coming off a 13-10 loss to the Golden Gophers, given Husker Du hailed from Minneapolis.

Before we wrap this edition of Points After, what kind of punk-rock sponsored entry would this be focusing solely on the corporate giants of the Big Ten and SEC?

The entire musical genre is founded on DIY ethos; founded on authenticity that doesn’t need nor want the involvement of the corporate world.

I became a fan of punk when I was teenager after spending most of my high school years listening to hip hop, and my entry point was the MTV-safe stuff like Sum-41, New Found Glory, blink-182. However, that led me to discover more underground acts on my own; bands including H2O and Bigwig.

I also saw Coheed & Cambria open for The Movielife in an old high school gym, two years before Coheed & Cambria became a mainstream hit with “A Favor House Atlantic.” That’s my musical equivalent of knowing all about Jared Verse long before he ever suited up for Florida State.

To that end, Thursday night was a great reminder that when it comes to football, the high-profile conferences can provide an accessible entry point to get to know teams, leagues and players that don’t get the same spotlight. But they can be just as entertaining, if not more so.

Case in point: 2022 Div. II national runner-up Colorado School of Mines held off perennial D-II powerhouse Grand Valley State in a Week 1 showdown of title hopefuls.

GVSU rallied from down 28-7 in the fourth to tie the game at 28. John Matocha, Mines’ outstanding quarterback and reigning winner of the Harlan Hill Trophy, led a 62-yard drive in 36 seconds that set up Hunter Pearson for a game-winning field-goal attempt.

Paraphrasing Dan Hawkins — who once coached not far from Mines at Colorado, and whose UC Davis Aggies rolled to a 48-10 rout of Texas A&M Commerce on Thursday — it’s Div. II football! It ain’t intramurals, brother…nor is it high school.

However, Pearson’s career-long field goal earned him football hero status. So here’s to the Orediggers kicker:

Pearson landed at Mines after having been out of football for five years. His is one of the countless, yet all equally fascinating stories that give this great game its identity.