2020 Florida Football Postgame Notes No. 5 Florida 51, Ole Miss 35 September 26, 2020 Vaught-Hemingway Stadium – Oxford, Miss. Trask Comes Within One Touchdown of School Record • Kyle Trask finished with career highs for passing yards (416), passing touchdowns (six), and attempts (42), in addition to tying his career high for completions (30) • Trask became the sixth Gator in school history to throw six touchdown passes in a game; he is the first to throw six since Chris Leak (Nov. 13, 2004 against South Carolina). o Trask was one shy of the single-game school record held by Doug Johnson (seven against Central Michigan in 1997) and Terry Dean (seven against New Mexico State in 1994). o Other Gators with six touchdown passes in a game: Johnson, Dean (twice), Leak, Danny Wuerffel (twice), Eric Kresser – for a full listing, see Page 163 of the media guide. • Trask’s 416 yards are the ninth-highest total in a game in school history and the most since Tim Tebow set the school record with 482 yards in the 2010 Sugar Bowl. o Trask’s 416 yards were also the fifth-highest total by a Gators quarterback against an SEC opponent, and the most since Rex Grossman threw for 464 yards Oct. 6, 2001 at LSU. • Trask joined Chris Leak (twice) and Rex Grossman (six times) as the only Gators quarterbacks since the start of the 2000 season to throw four touchdown passes against multiple SEC opponents. o Trask threw four touchdown passes at South Carolina last season (Oct. 19, 2019) • Trask has thrown three touchdowns against conference opponents four times in his career. o Since the start of 2003, the only Gators quarterbacks to throw three-plus touchdowns against SEC opponents are Tim Tebow (four times) and Chris Leak (six times) • Trask has five career 300-yard passing games, tied with Tim Tebow for the seventh-most 300-yard outings in school history (complete listing on Page 164 of media guide). Pitts Opens Mackey Award Campaign with Record Showing • Kyle Pitts monstrous opener (eight receptions for 170 yards and four touchdowns) was one of the best performances by a Gators pass catcher – receiver or tight end – in school history. • Pitts tied a school record with four touchdown receptions, equaling the performances of Ike Hilliard (Sept. 16, 1995 against Tennessee) and Jack Jackson (Sept. 3, 1994 against New Mexico State). o The last Gator with three receiving touchdowns was Chad Jackson (Sept. 3, 2005 against Wyoming), and the last with three against a Power Five opponent was Jabar Gaffney, who did it consecutive weeks against LSU (Oct. 7, 2000) and Auburn (Oct. 14, 2000). • Pitts became the third FBS tight end since the start of 1996 with 150-plus receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns in a game. o Stanford’s Colby Parkinson in 2018, Kentucky’s James Whalen Jr. in 1999 were the others. • Pitts’ 170 receiving yards are the highest single-game total by a Gator since Demarcus Robinson’s 216 yards against Kentucky (Sept. 13, 2014). o Prior to that performance, the last 170-yard receiving game by a Gator was Riley Cooper’s 181 yards in the 2010 Sugar Bowl. o The previous single-game high for receiving yards by a Gators tight end since the start of the 1996 season was 121 yards by Ben Troupe against Florida State in 2003. • Pitts is the only Gators tight end since at least 1996 to have three receiving touchdowns in a game. • Pitts now has 10 career touchdown receptions, surpassing Aaron Walker (nine from 1999-2002) for the second-most receiving touchdowns by a Gators tight end since the start of 1996. o Career leader within that span had 12 receiving touchdowns Gators Offense • Florida’s 642 total yards mark the 11th-highest total in school history (complete listing on Page 175 of media guide), and set a school record for total yards against an SEC opponent. o UF’s previous single-game record for total yards against an SEC opponent was 640 yards Sept. 29, 2001 against Mississippi State. • The Gators’ 446 passing yards left them 10 shy of the 10th-highest total in school history. o Florida’s only game with more than 435 passing yards since the start of the 2002 season was its 482-yard outing against Cincinnati in the 2010 Sugar Bowl. • For the second time under Dan Mullen, Florida threw for 400-plus yards in a game (UF had 410 against Vanderbilt last season). o Prior to that, the last two 400-yard passing games were against Cincinnati (482) in the 2010 Sugar Bowl, and against UCF (433) on Sept. 9, 2006 o The previous two 400-yard outings against SEC opponents were Nov. 3, 2001 (403 yards against Vanderbilt) and Oct. 27, 2001 (407 yards against Georgia) • Florida scored 50-plus points against an SEC opponent for the second time under Coach Mullen. o Prior to Mullen, the last two times Florida scored 50 points against an SEC opponent were: Nov. 6, 2010 against Vanderbilt, and Nov. 15, 2008 against South Carolina • Florida’s 32 first downs were the 11th-highest total in school history. • Florida has 400-plus total yards in 13 of its last 18 games, and 500-plus yards in three of the last five. • The Gators averaged 6.8 yards per carry (196 yards on 29 attempts). o Last season, UF only averaged better than 5.3 yards per carry against UT-Martin (6.1) and Virginia in the 2019 Orange Bowl (7.2). • Trevon Grimes’ touchdown reception in the first quarter was the sixth of his career. • Kadarius Toney’s touchdown reception in the second quarter was his first since a 66-yard touchdown reception in last year’s season-opening win over Miami. • Toney (55 rushing yards, 59 receiving yards) joined Lamical Perine (Oct. 13, 2018 against Vanderbilt) as the only other Gator since the start of 2012 with 50-plus rushing and receiving yards in a game. • Jacob Copeland tied a career high with three receptions. Gators Defense • Gervon Dexter’s interception (via Brenton Cox Jr.’s pass deflection) was Florida’s 50th takeaway since the start of the 2018 season o Florida’s 49 takeaways in 2018 and 2019 were tied for sixth among FBS programs • Ventrell Miller nearly doubled his previous career high for tackles (eight from the 2019 Orange Bowl), finishing with 15 today; he had a sack and a pair of tackles for loss as well. • Florida – which led the SEC with 3.77 sacks per game (49 total) and 7.85 tackles for loss per game (102 total) – racked up 11 tackles for loss and four sacks today. • Cox Jr. made his Gators debut with eight tackles, one sack, 2.5 tackles for loss, and a PBU. Florida Special Teams • Evan McPherson tied the third-longest made field goal in school history with a 55-yarder today. o Only five other field goals of 55-plus yards have been made in UF history. o Chris Perkins’ school-record 60-yarder (Sept. 15, 1984 against Tulane) and Caleb Sturgis’ 56- yarder (Oct. 31, 2009 against Georgia) are the only longer makes in school history. o Perkins, Sturgis (four), Brian Clark (Nov. 14, 1981 against Kentucky), and, McPherson (today) are the only Gators in history with a made field goal of 55-plus yards. o For a full listing of the longest field goals in school history, see Page 169 of the media guide. • McPherson’s only other attempt from 50-plus yards was a make from exactly 50 yards against Florida State last season. • With three makes on three attempts today, McPherson is now 37 for 41 (90.2 percent) in his career. o McPherson entered the year having made 34 of his 38 (89.5 percent) career attempts, which ranked second among all FBS kickers with at least 35 attempts across 2018 and 2019. Season Opener Superlatives • Florida tracks records for season openers dating back to 1982. The Gators eclipsed the following season opener superlatives today: o Team Passing Yards: 446 (previous high was 430 against Marshall in 2001) o Passing Yards: 416, Trask (previous high was 375 by Rex Grossman against Marshall in 2001) o Field Goals Made: 3, tied by Evan McPherson (happened three previous times) o Field Goal Long: 55, McPherson (previous long was 53 yards by Chris Perkins against Miami (Ohio) in 1983) Explosive Plays • Kadarius Toney: 50-yard rush, 1st quarter • Trevon Grimes (from Trask): 22-yard touchdown reception, 1st quarter • Kyle Pitts (from Trask): 21-yard reception, 2nd quarter • Kyle Pitts (from Trask): 71-yard reception, 3rd quarter • Malik Davis: 23-yad rush, 3rd quarter • Emory Jones: 22-yard rush, 3rd quarter • Trevon Grimes (from Jones): 30-yard reception, 3rd quarter • Nay’Quan Wright (from Trask): 25-yard reception, 3rd quarter • Dameon Pierce: 14-yard rush, 4th quarter Series Updates • Florida evened the all-time series with Ole Miss, with the record now standing at 12-12-1 • The Gators also improved to 6-2 against Ole Miss in Oxford • Florida has won consecutive meetings in the series for the first time since 1994 and 1995 Other • Today marked the first time since 1987 the Gators opened the season with a true road game • Florida Game Captains: Marco Wilson • Florida won the toss and deferred to the second half; Florida defended the north end zone • Attendance: 13,926 2020 Florida Football Postgame Quotes Dan Mullen, Florida Head Coach No. 5 Florida 51, Ole Miss 35 September 26, 2020 Opening statement… “Great win for us coming out here.