CFB world reacts to Florida’s blooper-reel penalty

One of the unique quirks of college football is that teammates can wear the same number. The catch is, if the two players are on the field at the same time, one has to wear an alternate number. If teammates take the field with the same number, it’s a penalty.

That happened to Florida during Thursday’s game against Utah. And for the Gators, it was a costly penalty.

After a disastrous start to the game, Florida seemed to be getting settled in. The Gators trailed 7-3 and appeared to stop a Utah drive at midfield. Florida’s return man, Eugene Wilson, called for a fair catch from inside of his own five-yard line. That violated conventional wisdom, as it seemed like the Gators would be starting their next possession from the shadow of their own goal line. As it turned out, Florida had bigger problems.

Wilson wears No. 3. His teammate, Jason Marshall Jr., also wears No. 3. Marshall was on the field for the punt. Equipment violation is a five-yard penalty from the previous spot. Since it was originally a fourth-and-three, Utah got a first down.

Football fans had a lot of fun at Florida’s expense after this penalty.

This is my favorite penalty https://t.co/1cOtN5AnjQ

— Tom Dougherty (@todougherty) September 1, 2023

The penalty was bad at the time and four plays later, it got worse. Utah took full advantage of the penalty when quarterback Nate Johnson scored on a 27-yard keeper to put the Utes up 14-3.

Certainly some penalties are worse than others, but most are understandable. This one, though, will be hard to live down, as there’s no good reason that it should have happened.