2023 Orange and Blue Game open thread: A glimpse of the Gators

I really don’t need to do a full-blown preview for this one, do I? I already wrote out a bunch of predictions for Florida’s spring game earlier this afternoon, and while I’m as excited as you are — give or take — to endure enjoy an SEC Network+ broadcast over on ESPN+, I think we all know the stakes of this Thursday night.

And, additionally: Florida’s gymnastics team living through an all-time thriller of an NCAA semifinal in Dallas on this day kind of puts the staging of an exhibition football game in perspective. Sure, this is the dawning of the Graham Mertz era; the sunset of Trinity Thomas’s amazing career feels a bit more important, especially given the coda that will now be written on Saturday.

So I will be leaning back and taking this in from the comfort of my customary seat, and hope that you, too, will receive this as the fun diversion it can and should be.

Alternately, we can start worrying about whether the Gators can beat Utah tonight, I guess! There’s no time for panic like the present!