2020 Florida Football Postgame Notes No
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2020 Florida Football Postgame Notes No. 6 Florida 34, Kentucky 10 November 28, 2020 Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gators Offense • The Gators have beaten four SEC opponents by 20-plus points in the same season for the first time since 2008, when they beat seven SEC foes by at least 20. • Florida’s 347 points this season mark its fifth-highest total through eight games in school history, trailing the 2001 Gators (359), 1995 Gators (364), 1994 Gators (394), and 1996 Gators (413). • Florida has six consecutive games of 400-plus yards against SEC opponents for the first time since a six-game stretch which started Oct. 27, 2001 against Georgia and ended the week after a 418- yard outing at Tennessee on Sept. 21, 2002. • The Gators’ seven games of 400-plus total yards against SEC opponents this year are the most they’ve posted against SEC teams in a season since 2004 (also seven times). o Today is the 21st time the Gators amassed 400-plus total yards under Mullen, one more 400- yard outing than they had in the 75 games comprising the 2012-17 seasons. o The Gators have eclipsed 400 total yards in 19 of their last 25 games. • Florida has more than 35 passing touchdowns in a season for the first time since 2001 (when it had 43) and the sixth time in school history (full list on Page 181 of media guide). o Note: Bowl stats were not counted in records prior to 2002. • Florida has six consecutive 300-yard passing games for the first time since a 14-game streak which began with the 2001 Sugar Bowl, spanned the entire 2001 season, and ended the week after the 2002 season-opening rout of UAB. o This is the 16th time UF reached 300 passing yards under Mullen, matching its total from the 156 games comprising the 2006-17 seasons. Another “Ho-Hum” Performance Keeps Trask on Record-Setting Pace • Kyle Trask’s third touchdown pass of the day – a 7-yarder to Kyle Pitts in the third quarter – tied him with San Diego State’s Dennis Shaw (1969) and Houston’s David Klingler (1990) for the third-most passing touchdowns through the first eight games of a season in FBS history. o B.J. Symons, Texas Tech, 2003 – 36 o Andre Ware, Houston, 1989 – 36 o Kyle Trask, Florida, 2020 – 34 o David Klingler, Houston, 1990 – 34 o Dennis Shaw, San Diego State, 1969 – 34 o Colt Brennan, Hawaii, 2006 – 33 • Trask’s third touchdown pass also tied him with Rex Grossman (2001) for the third-most passing touchdowns in a single season in school history. o Only Danny Wuerffel (35 in 1995; 39 in 1996) threw for more in a season. • Trask is the first quarterback in school history to throw three-plus passing touchdowns in eight straight games, breaking Danny Wuerffel’s school record of seven in a row (Sept. 21-Nov. 9, 1996). • Trask has not thrown an interception in his last 119 attempts, which is the sixth-longest streak in school history [see Page 164 of the media guide for complete list]. • Trask has thrown for 200-plus yards in 16 consecutive games with 200-plus passing yards, extending the second-longest streak in school history. o Shane Matthews holds the school record of 17 [see Page 164 of media guide for details]. Pitts Returns in Monstrous Fashion • Kyle Pitts becomes the first Gator since Taylor Jacobs (2002) with three games of two-plus receiving touchdowns in the same season. o The last Gator with three such games against SEC teams was Jabar Gaffney in 2001. • Pitts is also one of eight SEC players since the start of 2000 with multiple games of three receiving touchdowns in a season. The other seven are all receivers. o o o Others: Jabar Gaffney, Florida (2000), Donte’ Stallworth, Tennessee (2001), Darvin Adams, Auburn (2009), Justin Hunter, Tennesse (2012), Amari Cooper, Alabama (2014), Ja’Marr Chase, LSU (2019), and Justin Jefferson, LSU (2019). • Pitts’ 11 receiving touchdowns this season are the most touchdown catches in a season by any Gator since Jabar Gaffney had 13 in 2001. • Pitts’ 11 touchdown cathces are two more than 2019’s FBS leaders for receiving touchdowns by a tight end -- SMU’s Kylen Granson and Louisiana-Monroe’s Josh Pederson had nine apiece last year. • Pitts’ 56-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter was the 82nd reception of his career, tying Kirk Kirkpatrick (1987-90) for the second-most career receptions by a tight in school history. o Pitts passed Kirkpatrick with his second catch of the day, a 12-yarder from Kadarius Toney in the third quarter. o The school record is 111 career receptions by a tight end who played from 2007-09. Gators Defense • Florida had three interceptions for the second time this season (also had three against Georgia). o The Gators were one of five FBS teams last year with at least three interceptions in three different games. • The Gators held Kentucky to just 2-of-13 on third downs (15.4 percent), and they did not allow the Wildcats to convert a third or fourth down in the second half (combined 0 of 6). o Florida has allowed three or fewer third-down conversions four of the last five games. • Kentucky’s 221 total yards were the fewest Florida allowed all season. o Florida allowed just 46 total yards and shut out Kentucky in the second half. o More than half of Kentucky’s total yards (120) came in the second quarter, when it held the ball for 12:10 and ran 23 offensive plays. • Mohamoud Diabate’s interception in the third quarter was the first of his career. • Shawn Davis’ interception in the fourth quarter was his second of the season and fifth of his career. • Tre’Vez Johnson’s interception in the fourth quarter was the first of his career. Florida Special Teams • Kadarius Toney’s 50-yard punt return touchdown was the Gators’ first punt return touchdown since Freddie Swain’s 85-yarder for a touchdown against Colorado State on Sept. 15, 2018. • Evan McPherson, who entered game as national leader among all FBS kickers with 40 attempts since the start of 2018, hit a 34- and 40-yarder, but missed a 45-yarder this afternoon. o McPherson has now made 45 of his 51 career field goal attempts (88.2 percent), which puts him on pace to break the 50-attempt school record held by Jeff Chandler. Chandler was 67 of 80 (83.8 percent) from 1997-2001. Notable Career Highs • James Houston IV tied his career high for a third time with eight tackles. o Houston also logged a team-high 2.5 tackles for loss. • Dameon Pierce had a career-high four receptions. • Tedarrell Slaton logged a career-high seven tackles. • Rick Wells had a career-high 36 receiving yards and tied his career high with two receptions. • Nay’Quan Wright had a career-high five receptions. Explosive Plays • Dameon Pierce: 15-yard rush (fake punt), 1st quarter • Kyle Pitts (from Trask): 56-yard touchdown reception, 1st quarter • Kadarius Toney (from Trask): 21-yard reception, 2nd quarter • Kadarius Toney: 50-yard punt return touchdown, 2nd quarter • Jacob Copeland (from Trask): 42-yard reception, 3rd quarter (longest reception of career) • Dameon Pierce: 38-yard rush, 4th quarter (longest rush of season for Pierce) • Kyle Pitts (from Trask): 22-yard reception, 4th quarter • Rick Wells (from Jones): 20-yard reception, 4th quarter Series Updates • Florida improves its all-time record against Kentucky to 53-18, in addition to improving to 29-5 against the Wildcats in Gainesville. • The Gators have won 33 of the last 34 meetings in the series. Other • Florida Game Captains: Marco Wilson • Florida won the toss and deferred to the second half; Florida defended the south end zone • Attendance: 14,453 2020 Florida Football Postgame Quotes Dan Mullen, Florida Head Coach No. 6 Florida 34, Kentucky 10 November 28, 2020 On the similarities to previous games with early defensive struggles followed by a strong second half… “I think that shows… our defensive coaches, we have good defensive coaches and we have defensive guys that take a lot of pride in what they’re doing. We came out, we didn’t play very well to start the game. I’m not going to say we played bad. I just don’t think we played very well. Still only gave up 10 points in the first half, and got a stop right before half that allowed us to take the lead and take the advantage. Our players, I think they understand that. They sit there and say, ‘Hey, that’s not the best we can play.’ Our coaches understand that, too. We’ve got to make some adjustments, make sure we make the adjustments for what they’re doing. We went through that at halftime. Teams come in, and the game is so much about adjustments. People are going to come in and have some different wrinkles, some different changes, and do different things each week. I think our guys came in, made a great adjustment, and our guys came out really motivated in the second half. I think they were probably a little disappointed with how they played in the first half. And that was Gator defense. Really, from the last two minutes of that last drive of the first half on, that was what we expect Gator defense to look like.” On the punt return touchdown at the end of the half… “It was one of our packages we have in.