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The Florida Gators’ 2023 season is not off to a great start. Florida currently trails the Utah Utes, 24-3, in Rice-Eccles Stadium.
During the pregame, defender Princely Umanmielen was seen clowning that venue on social media. Those comments have quickly backfired.
While walking out of the tunnel, Umanmielen snapped a photo of the playing field and surrounding stadium seating. He then posted the picture to his Instagram story with the caption, “Lil ah stadium.”
Florida DE Princely Umanmielen talking bad about Utah’s Rice–Eccles Stadium during pregame will surely end well. Surely pic.twitter.com/IUnPVMuK01
— Grayson Weir (@GsonJW) August 31, 2023
Rice-Eccles Stadium has a capacity of just over 51,000 fans. Compared to The Swamp, which holds more than 88,500, that might feel small. It doesn’t mean the place can’t get loud, though. In fact, it was recently ranked as one of the top 30 noisiest college football venues in the nation.
They’ve even had noise complaints from those that live nearby, who equated it to living next door to an airstrip.
When Rice Eccles is so loud the stadium is literally rockin’ 😎 https://t.co/XdPKYcVCf7
— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) December 1, 2019
Loud.
Especially when the Utes are rolling, which they are tonight.
At the time of this writing, Utah is in complete control. They lead the prominent SEC power by three touchdowns as the third quarter comes to a close.
The Utes have held Florida to just 12 rushing yards while picking off transfer passer Graham Mertz. Fans were quick to bring Umanmielen’s words back up after Utah jumped out to a big lead.
Maybe focus on the game plan, bubba
— Fitz (@fitza66) September 1, 2023
— Yash Singh (@YashSingh_15) September 1, 2023
It looks like they’ll coast to a comfortable home win, getting some revenge for the Utes loss in The Swamp to open last season. The performance might lead Umanmielen to keep the pregame trash talk to a minimum.