Florida football: 3 takeaways from statement win over No. 7 Utah

1. Anthony Richardson is that dude

All the hype coming into this game was surrounding Anthony Richardson and he honestly lived up to it, and then some. He didn’t blow anyone away with his arm, but he was clutch and made athletic play after athletic play. There’s a reason Mel Kiper Jr. lists him as a first-round prospect for the upcoming NFL draft.

Richardson finished the night with 168 yards on 7.0 yards per attempt and he led the Gators with 104 rushing yards and three touchdowns. He scored the game-winning rushing touchdown on a keeper with just over a minute left and just had that moxy the entire time.

Florida needed a quarterback to really take over and play with confidence after the Emory Jones era in which he really struggled with consistency. Sure, this is just one game, but he really played well against the seventh-best team in the country.

Richardson gained plenty of confidence from this will with nearly 300 total yards and three touchdowns and he’s going to carry that over into the rest of non-conference and SEC play.

Florida has itself a dude at quarterback.