2020 Florida Football Postgame Notes No. 10 Florida 41, Missouri 17 October 31, 2020 Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
Trask Continues to Evoke Ghosts of Gators Past, Breaks SEC Record with 18th Touchdown • Kyle Trask’s 18 touchdown passes through the first four games this season set an SEC record for the most passing touchdowns through the first four games of a season, according to the SEC Network. • With four touchdown passes tonight, Trask became the first quarterback in school history to throw at least four touchdown passes in four consecutive games. • Trask is the fourth Gators quarterback since the start of 1996 to throw three-plus passing touchdowns in four consecutive games. o Danny Wuerffel had the longest streak during that span (seven games from Sept. 21-Nov. 9, 1996), followed by Rex Grossman (five games from Sept. 1-Oct. 6, 2001), and Doug Johnson (four games from Sept. 6-Oct. 4, 1997) • Trask has three 300-yard passing games this year, tying Chris Leak (2004) and Rex Grossman (2002) for the most 300-yard games by a Gator against SEC teams in a season since the start of 2002. o Grossman was the last one with more than three 300-yard outings against SEC teams in a season, as he eclipsed 300 yards in all eight league games in 2001. • In his career, Trask has thrown for 300-plus yards in five games against SEC opponents, usurping Chris Leak for the fifth-most outings in school history. o Rex Grossman (12), Danny Wuerffel (10), Shane Matthews (nine), and Doug Johnson (six) are the only Gators with more 300-yard games against SEC teams. • Trask posted the seventh 300-yard passing game of his career, tying Johnson and Leak for the fourth-most 300-yard games in a Gators career [see Page 164 of the media guide for full listing]. • Trask has thrown for 200-plus yards in 12 consecutive games with 200-plus passing yards, extending the third-longest streak in school history. o Shane Matthews holds the school record (17), while Rex Grossman is second with 13 [see Page 164 of the media guide for listing].
Toney Delivers Tricks and Treats in Spooky Halloween Outing • Kadarius Toney’s six touchdown receptions this season are double his career scrimmage touchdowns total entering the 2020 season (three – two receiving, one rushing). o Toney also eclipsed his previous season high for receiving yards (260 in 2018) in four games. • Kyle Pitts (seven) and Toney (six) have already matched Florida’s two 2019 leaders in receiving touchdowns – Freddie Swain led the 2019 Gators with seven, while Van Jefferson had six. o The Pitts-Toney and Swain-Jefferson duos are the only Gators tandems with at least six touchdown receptions in the same season since the start of 2009. o Entering Saturday’s games, there were nine FBS players with at least six touchdown receptions. No FBS team featured two such players. Florida now has two in Toney and Pitts. • Toney became the fourth Gators player under Mullen with three scrimmage touchdowns in a game, joining Pitts (four receiving at Ole Miss on Sept. 26), Emory Jones (three rushing against Vanderbilt on Nov. 9, 2019), and Lamical Perine (two rushing, one receiving in 2019 Orange Bowl). o Toney and Chad Jackson are the only Gators since the start of 1996 with at least two receiving touchdowns and one rushing touchdown in a game. Jackson had four receiving touchdowns and a rushing touchdown against Wyoming back on Sept. 3, 2005. o Entering Saturday’s games, no FBS player had two receiving touchdowns and a rushing touchdown in a game this season. Nine FBS players achieved the feat in 2019.
Gators Offense • Florida scored 40 points for the 10th time under Dan Mullen, putting it two games behind its total of 40-point outings from the 2010-17 seasons (12 in 101 games played). • In addition to having scored 35-plus points in each of its last six games, Florida has scored at least 35 points in four consecutive games against SEC teams for the first time since 2008. o The six-game streak in 2008 began with a 38-7 win at Arkansas (Oct. 4) and finished with a 56-6 rout of South Carolina (Nov. 15). UF had three games of 50-plus points in that stretch.
• Florida posted its ninth game of 500-plus total yards in Mullen’s 30 games as head coach, matching its combined total from 101 games comprising the 2010-17 seasons. o UF’s five 500-yard outings against SEC teams under Mullen also match its 2010-17 total. o Florida has posted 500-plus total yards in four of its last seven games. • The Gators have eclipsed 400 total yards in 15 of their last 21 games. o Today is the 17th time the Gators amassed 400-plus total yards under Mullen. In the 62 games comprising the 2013-17 seasons, UF posted 400-plus total yards exactly 17 times. • This is the 12th time UF reached 300 passing yards under Mullen, surpassing its total number of 300- yard outings in the 129 games comprising the 2008-17 seasons. • Trevon Grimes’ touchdown reception in the fourth quarter made him the third Gators pass catcher with multiple touchdown receptions this season. • Justin Shorter recorded his first collegiate touchdown reception in the third quarter. • Dameon Pierce had a career-high 45 receiving yards.
Gators Defense • Prior to Missouri’s final two drives – by which time Florida built a 41-10 lead – the Gators allowed just 172 total yards and had not ceded a touchdown to Missouri’s offense. • Florida limited Missouri to three third down conversions on 15 attempts (20 percent). o The last time Florida’s opponent finished with conversion rate of 20 percent or below on at least 15 third downs was last year’s rout of Vanderbilt. The Commodores finished that game with the same third down numbers as Missouri tonight. • Brenton Cox Jr. came away with his first career fumble recovery. • Florida finished the night with a pair of takeaways, running its total since the start of 2018 to 54.
Gators Special Teams • Chris Howard made each of his first two career field goal attempts – a 28-yarder, and a 32-yarder.
Explosive Plays • Malik Davis (from Trask): 30-yard reception, 1st quarter • Kyle Pitts (from Trask): 32-yard reception, 1st quarter • Dameon Pierce (from Trask): 34-yard reception, 1st quarter (followed Pitts’ 32-yard catch) • Kemore Gamble (from Trask): 36-yard reception, 2nd quarter • Jacob Copeland (from Trask): 36-yard reception, 2nd quarter • Kadarius Toney (from Trask): 30-yard touchdown reception, 2nd quarter (first play after MU fumble) • Kyle Trask: 26-yard rush, 3rd quarter • Kyle Trash: 15-yard rush, 3rd quarter • Kadarius Toney: 16-yard touchdown rush, 3rd quarter • Jacob Copeland (from Trask): 31-yard reception, 4th quarter • Iverson Clement: 12-yard rush, 4th quarter • Iverson Clement: 17-yard rush, 4th quarter
Series Updates • The Gators even their all-time record against Missouri, with the series now standing at 5-5. • Florida improves to 3-2 against the Tigers in Gainesville. • Florida has won five of the nine meetings with Missouri since 2012, when the latter joined the SEC. • The Gators have allowed just one offensive touchdown (the 5-yard rush in the fourth quarter tonight) in their last two meetings with Missouri.
Other • Florida has won 10 consecutive home games for the first time since a 10-game home winning streak which spanned the entire 2012 season and first three home games of the 2013 season. • Florida Game Captains: Jeremiah Moon, Kyle Trask • Missouri won the toss and elected to receive; Florida defended the north end zone • Attendance: 12,049 (15,080 with the addition of 3,031 fan cutouts)
2020 Florida Football Postgame Quotes Dan Mullen, Florida Head Coach No. 10 Florida 41, Missouri 17 October 31, 2020
On the incident prior to halftime… “I think it starts there. I didn’t see it. I was watching the play down the field to see if there was pass interference on the player who made the catch. I got told they hit (Trask) late, and you know what, our guys are defending their quarterback. I think our guys started to do that, and I think, unfortunately we ran a play where if that’s a late hit and there’s pushing and shoving and if it was going to be fourth down and we had to punt, or one of those situations, it’s one thing. But when the teams are leaving the field, you have both teams running off the field at the same time, so I didn’t see what was going on. I didn’t see the late hit. I got told afterwards that our guys thought that was the case, but obviously it wasn’t from the officials’ point of view. Then we went out there trying to get our guys off of the field because it was getting testy. We have a big game next week. I think it kept growing and growing, we were trying to push guys back and unfortunately it kind of… trying to get in the middle, get the officials to get in the middle, trying to get them to get in the middle, get us in the middle, get their team off, our team off. And when everyone is running to the locker room and it kind of keeps spilling down that way. It’s a really unfortunate situation. It’s not something we condone, obviously, not something that you really want to see in the game at all. But I tell you this, I give our coaches, I give our players a lot of credit. I give coach (Eliah) Drinkwitz and I give the Missouri staff and their players a lot of credit because of how that first half ended, it just shows the class of both teams to be able to come out in the second half and just play football. Zero of that carried over in the second half. Zero of that carried over postgame. Zero of that carried past that, and it just shows kind of the great job by the players and coaches on both teams and their abilities. I don’t think either side would say ‘Hey, that is what we wanted to have happen.’ And neither side condones it. It’s an unfortunate situation that happened, but I think it shows the class of the programs to be able to come out and play the second half the way we did.”
On potential punishments following the incident in the game… “My understanding is that the officials ejected two guys on our team, one guy on their team in the first half, so they miss this game, so they miss the rest of this game. My understanding from the officials is that that was the end of it, so those guys go out in the first half and miss the rest of this game, so you know, great learning. And the officials did give an unsportsmanlike conduct to everybody, every coach, every player on both teams as well. But being that there were no unsportsmanlike conducts in the second half, that wouldn’t carry over for either team for the next game.”
On if he feels like he was in the wrong coming onto the field… “I was trying to get our players off the field, you know? Because I know we have a big game next week.”
On if he feels he may have escalated the incident before halftime… “I was trying to get our players off the field to make sure we didn’t have issues and have a whole bunch of guys suspended. We’re already a paper-thin outfit right now.”
On Kyle Trask’s performance today and bouncing back from his interception… “Yeah, I think he gets frustrated with that. I don’t get upset with the pick-six. He just got hit when he threw the ball. We were talking about getting it out of his hands a little bit quicker. I think he’ll tell ya, I don’t think we were as crisp as we expected, or we want to be. But when you don’t practice for two weeks, you have a bunch of guys miss practice during the week, I think you’re going to be a little bit rusty coming out there and, you know, I think you saw that. But he’s a veteran guy and he doesn’t let that bother him.”
2020 Florida Football Postgame Quotes Florida Student-Athletes No. 10 Florida 41, Missouri 17 October 31, 2020
#2 Brad Stewart Jr., Senior, Defensive Back On coming into the game with a shorthanded secondary... “It was a big win. We tried to come out and play together and really try to make a statement. We just had to come out and play as a team. That’s what we did in practice like that all week.”
On Georgia game next week… “We got to come out and play together. We got to play as one. We all got to be on the same page really. Starting tomorrow, we’re going to come out and work on that just like how we did this week, work on being a team and playing together and, hopefully, we can all come out here with a dub.
On the team coming together after a two-week break… “I think we know that we have to step up. I think the young guys, they know that their name was called and know that it’s your time to step up. That’s something that Coach Mullen preaches all the time for the young guys, first-string, or back-end, or for any player. I think you just got to be ready when your number is called because anything could happen with this year and due to the circumstances with COVID. We all knew before the season started that we had to step up. Anything could happen this year.”
#11 Kyle Trask, Redshirt Senior, Quarterback On the hit at the end of the first half… “Well, I think receivers got fired up and may or may not have wanted a penalty or something like that. At the end of the day, we just came together, came to the locker room, had a lot of energy and just bounced back and responded. Played with a lot of energy, I guess. And tempo. We got the ball more in the second half.”
On the locker room at halftime… “A lot of energy. We came in, we came together, and we’re going to have each other’s back no matter what, so it was a really special moment for our team. We came out and we had a great second half after that.”
On if it felt like his team stuck up for him in the fight… “I mean, yeah. It was really cool just to see my teammates have my back, but, at the end of the day, if that happens to anybody, the whole team is going to have their back regardless. That’s just how this team is. That’s what is so special about this team and, like I said before, just a really close moment for us to just come together in the locker room and come out and play a solid second half.”
On Kadarius Toney… “That’s what he’s capable of on any given night. The defense was playing a lot of one-on-one and we just had to win our matchups. Like I said in the past, it’s pretty hard to cover Kadarius one-on-one to say the least. That’s what he can do when you give him those opportunities.”
#22 Rashad Torrence II, Freshman, Defensive Back On how important it is to carve out a role and how he’s performed when he’s seen the field… “It’s very important, just making plays when I’m in, doing whatever I can do to help the team. When my number is called, I’ve got to be ready. It just so happens it’s been two games I’ve got the opportunity. I’ve got to go out there and ball.”
On the performance of the secondary tonight… “All week we had a lot of energy and a lot of juice at practice. It translated to the game. Keeping the same energy for the rest of the season, I feel like we’ll be just fine.”
On when he found out he’d make his first career start… “I found out Monday morning. My reaction… I was shocked. But, at the same time, I was ready. Through preparation throughout the summer and those types of things, I knew whenever my number was called I was going to perform.”
#27 Dameon Pierce, Junior, Running Back On the importance of coming out and taking the narrative back… “It was very important. We all obviously came off a bad loss… made some mistakes that we didn’t need to make, but we cleared it up and we polished it. That week gave us a whole week of sitting on it and we wanted to get better… We started a little slow in the first half, shot ourselves in the foot, but we came together in the end.”
On whether he is picking up running tips from Kadarius Toney… “Yup.”
On the Georgia game… “That’s obviously a game we circle on our schedule every year. Like you said, we’ve been coming up short. We’re just going up with a chip on our shoulder.”
On how this performance greases the wheels for Georgia… “We’re feeling good coming off a win. We’d rather come off a win than a loss going into Georgia week, but we’re just going to build off this win, be back Monday and get our plays set.”
On what the Georgia game means to him… “Of course, man, that’s how everybody on this team feels. Everybody on this team feeling that way. We lost to them two years straight. That’s obviously not a good feeling. We’re just going to prepare and build off this win.”
#71 Chris Howard, Redshirt Junior, Kicker On when he learned he was starting this week and what his reaction was … “I learned Sunday morning. I was super excited. As soon as I got the news that I had been waiting for four years now to really start a game, I was overwhelmed with joy.”
On his week and what the game prep looked like as the starter… “It wasn’t too much different, except for being No. 1 versus No. 2. That was only the main difference preparation-wise. I was ready and have been waiting for this.”
On what was going through his mind the opening drive and his first career field goal attempt… “This kick was just like any other kick in practice, I was just trying to block all the other noise out. I couldn’t hear anything. I was probably the most locked in I have ever been in my whole life. It was just the best feeling in the world to hit my first field goal.”
On his teammates’ reaction after his first field goal… “They were happy for me, and I was happy. If someone would have told me I would have started three years ago, I don’t know if people would have said that would ever happen, so everyone was just really happy for me throughout the whole organization.”
#89 Justin Shorter, Redshirt Sophomore, Wide Receiver On how it felt to score his first touchdown in a Gators uniform… “It felt so good. It’s been so long, and I’ve been working so hard. It felt great to finally go out there and get my first one. I got a taste of it, and now I just want to go out there and get more and more, hopefully next week at Georgia.”
On how the offense picked up and started clicking… “We were really doing it to ourselves. We had gotten in the red zone two or three times and we weren’t able to capitalize. That is a big thing that Coach Mullen was talking about. After the second field goal, we knew we should be scoring points and KT (Kadarius Toney) took over the game and did what he always does.”
On whether the halftime scuffle fired the team up… “It definitely did. It was just unfortunate on what happened and how Kyle got hit late. Nobody likes to see the quarterback get hit, or anybody on the team get hit. It fired us up, but Coach Mullen came in and calmed us down and told us we had to play smart and be smart when we go back out there, and do our job and continue to dominate.”
2020 Florida Football Postgame Quotes Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri Head Coach No. 10 Florida 41, Missouri 17 October 31, 2020
Opening statement… “We didn’t play well enough on the road to give ourselves an opportunity to beat a top-10 team. There’s no excuse for it. We didn’t play well enough offensively and weren’t able to control the line of scrimmage. Defensively, we had a couple of busted coverages and they had three straight possessions where they scored before the half and really put the game in doubt. Offensively, we had a bunch of drops. We’ve got to improve, got to get a lot better.”
On not being able to sustain drives in the second half… “I’ll have to go back and watch the tape. They were giving us fits up front and we weren’t able to convert third downs. Obviously we had the fumble right before the half that really put us (behind). We dropped a touchdown to start the second quarter, which would have put us up 14-6. You’ve got to take advantage of those situations on the road. We played three new starters on the offensive line today and (Florida) did a nice job of creating confusion.”
On working on eliminating turnovers heading into the next game… “A ton. If we don’t turn the football over, then we have a chance to help our defense and play good football and we’re not doing that. We’re putting our guys in bad positions. Our defense played their butt off in the first half. We have to focus on that.”
On what allowed Kadarius Toney and Kyle Pitts to have success in the receiving game… “We didn’t set good enough edges against Kadarius, and he was able to break tackles. I know in the first half when they moved the ball down the field they seemed to keep finding him (Toney). They had a critical third down where they found him. At the end of the day, we didn’t win, so we didn’t do a good enough job defending anybody.”