UF Football: Notes & Quotes from 63-35 win over Arkansas

November 15, 2020

Courtesy of University Athletic Association

No. 6 Florida 63, Arkansas 35
November 14, 2020
Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium

Gators Scoring Points at Record Pace

With 63 points tonight, Florida has totaled 275 points through the first six games – the third-highest total through six games in school history, behind the 1994 Gators (287) and 1996 Gators (315).
Florida has scored 35-plus points in eight consecutive games, equaling the longest streak in school history. Florida had eight-game streaks of 35-point outings from Oct. 4-Nov. 29, 2008, as well as the first eight games of the 1996 season.
- Florida’s six consecutive games of 35-plus points against SEC opponents also ties a school record set within the aforementioned 1996 and 2008 streaks.
Florida posted its first 60-point game against an SEC opponent since a 63-5 win over Kentucky on Oct. 25, 2008.
Tonight marks the fifth time in Dan Mullen’s tenure UF scored 50 points, matching its total of 50-point games in the program’s 101 games from the 2010-17 seasons.
- Most 50-point games versus SEC teams in school history:
  - 1)SteveSpurrier–18 / 2)UrbanMeyer–6 / 3)Mullen–3
UF has scored 40-plus points in three consecutive games for the second time under Dan Mullen, previously doing so in the final games of the 2018 season.
- Prior to Mullen’s tenure, Florida last scored 40 points in three consecutive games when it did it seven straight times from Oct. 11 through Nov. 29, 2008.
Florida extended its longest streak of 40-point games against SEC opponents since 2008, when it rattled off a five-game run from Oct. 11-Nov. 15. UF has three straight 40-point games.
Florida scored 40 points for the 12th time under Mullen, matching its total of 40-point outings from the 2010-17 seasons (101 games played).
The Gators threw seven touchdown passes for the seventh time in school history.
Florida threw five touchdown passes in a half for the eighth time in program history.
- Sept. 1, 2018 – Charleston Southern (Feleipe Franks – five in first half)
- Oct. 14, 2000 – Auburn (Rex Grossman – five in first half)
- Sept. 26, 1998 – Kentucky (Jesse Palmer – two in first half; Doug Johnson – three in first half)
- Sept. 6, 1997 – Central Michigan (Doug Johnson – seven in first half)
- Nov. 11, 1995 – at South Carolina (Danny Wuerffel – five in first half)
- Sept. 3, 1994 – New Mexico State (Terry Dean – seven in first half)
- Nov. 6, 1993 – SW Louisiana (Terry Dean – five in first half)
Florida has scored five offensive touchdowns in six games against SEC teams for the first time since 2008, when it also did it six times.
Florida’s sixth straight game with five-plus offensive touchdowns extends its longest streak since 2008, when it had an eight-game run from Oct. 4-Nov. 29, 2008.

Trask Breaks SEC Record for Passing Touchdowns Through Six, Bolsters Heisman Campaign

With six touchdown passes tonight, Kyle Trask broke Tua Tagovailoa’s SEC record for the most touchdown passes through the first six games of a season (Tua had 27 in the first six games of 2019).
- Trask’s sixth touchdown pass of the game – an 11-yarder to Keon Zipperer – was his 28th of the season, tying Shane Matthews (1991) for seventh on UF’s single-season record list.
  - Trask also joined Tim Tebow (2007, 2008) and Danny Wuerffel (1995, 1996) as the only Gators in history to post multiple seasons of 25 passing touchdowns.
Among all Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks since 1990, Trask’s 28 touchdowns (all passing) would trail only Lamar Jackson (30 in 2016 – 15 rushing, 15 passing) for the most total touchdowns through six games.
- Within the same group, Trask’s 2,171 passing yards only trail Ty Detmer’s 2,513 yards from the first six games of the 1990 season.
- The only other Heisman quarterbacks who eclipsed 2,000 passing yards in the first six games of their winning season were Sam Bradford (2,052 in 2008) and Joe Burrow (2,157 in 2019).
Trask became the seventh quarterback in SEC history to throw for six passing touchdowns multiple times in a career, and the fifth to do it multiple times in the same season.
- Tim Couch, Kentucky (3 – two in 1997, one in 1998)
- Brandon Allen, Arkansas (2 – both in 2015)
- Joe Burrow, LSU (2 – both in 2019)
- Terry Dean, Florida (2 – one in 1993 and 1994)
- Drew Lock, Missouri (2 – both in 2017)
- Danny Wuerffel, Florida (2 – one in 1995 and 1996)
Trask is the fourth FBS quarterback since the start of 1996 to throw at least four touchdown passes in six consecutive games. He already held the SEC record with five such outings in a row.
- Other FBS quarterbacks: Colt Brennan, Hawaii (nine games in 2006); Graham Harrell, Texas Tech (six games in 2007); Logan Woodside, Toledo (six games in 2016) [Note: this does not include streaks which span multiple seasons]
With his sixth game of four passing touchdowns this season, Trask becomes the first Gator in history to throw four-plus passing touchdowns six different times in a season.
- Danny Wuerffel previously held the school record with five in both 1995 and 1996.
Trask’s four 350-yard passing outings the last two seasons are one more than the combined number of 350-yard passing games by all Gators quarterbacks since the start of 2002.
Trask and Grossman are now the only quarterbacks in Gators history with four consecutive 300-yard passing games, as well as four such outings in a row against SEC teams.
- Grossman set a school record with nine consecutive 300-yard passing games in 2001, in addition to his 10 straight games against SEC teams across 2001(eight) and 2002 (two).
Trask’s fifth 300-yard passing game this year marks the sixth time in program history a Gators quarterback logged at least five 300-yard passing games in a season.
- Others: Grossman (10 in 2001, six in 2002); Shane Matthews (five in 1990, 1991, and 1992).
Trask posted the ninth 300-yard passing game of his career, adding to the fourth-highest total in school history.
Trask threw for 300-plus yards against an SEC opponent for the seventh time in his career, usurping Doug Johnson (1996-99) for the fourth-most 300-yard games versus SEC teams in school history.
- Grossman (12 – 2000-02), Wuerffel (10 – 1993-96), and Matthews (nine – 1989-92) are the only Gators with more 300-yard games against SEC teams.
With his 31-yard completion to Keon Zipperer on Florida’s second offensive possession, Trask became the 10th quarterback in school history to reach 5,000 career passing yards.
Trask has thrown for 200-plus yards in 14 consecutive games with 200-plus passing yards, breaking a tie with Rex Grossman (2000-02) for the second-longest streak in school history.
- Shane Matthews holds the school record of 17

Gators Offense

The Gators posted 500-plus total yards against a third consecutive SEC opponent for the first time since 2001, when they did it at Kentucky (Sept. 22), versus Mississippi State (Sept. 29), and at LSU (Oct. 6).
- This is the second time under Mullen the Gators logged three straight games of 500-plus total yards, previously doing so Nov. 10-24, 2018. Prior to Mullen’s arrival, Florida last had three consecutive 500-yard games in Nov. 15-29, 2008.
Florida has four games of 500-plus total yards against SEC opponents in the same season for the first time since 2001, when it eclipsed that number against five SEC teams.
Florida posted its 11th game of 500-plus total yards in Mullen’s 32 games as head coach, more than its combined total from 101 games comprising the 2010-17 seasons (nine).
- UF’s seven 500-yard games against SEC foes under Mullen match its total from 2008-17.
- Florida has posted 500-plus total yards in six of its last 10 games.
The Gators’ five games of 400-plus total yards against SEC opponents this year are the most they’ve posted against SEC teams in a season since 2008, when they did it six times.
- Florida has four consecutive games of 400-plus yards against SEC opponents for the first time since a four-game run from Sept. 27 through Oct. 25, 2008.
- This was the 19th time the Gators amassed 400-plus total yards under Mullen – which is just one fewer 400-yard outing they had in the 75 games comprising the 2012-17 seasons.
- The Gators have eclipsed 400 total yards in 17 of their last 23 games.
Florida has four consecutive 300-yard passing games for the first time since a 14-game streak that began with the 2001 Sugar Bowl, spanned the entire 2001 season, and ended the week after the 2002 season-opening rout of UAB.
- This is the 14th time UF reached 300 passing yards under Mullen, tying its total number of 300-yard outings from the 142 games comprising the 2007-17 seasons.
Trevon Grimes and Justin Shorter have receiving touchdowns in each of the last three games.
Grimes’ touchdown receptions tonight were his fourth and fifth of the season, matching his combined total from 2018 and 2019 (two in 2018, three in 2019).
Grimes also set a career high with six receptions and posted the second 100-yard receiving game of his career (previously had 118 yards at Florida State back on Nov. 24, 2018).
Jacob Copeland, Xzavier Henderson, and Keon Zipperer became the eighth, ninth, and 10th Gators to catch a touchdown pass this season. Last season, 10 Gators had one. In 2018, 11 Gators had a touchdown reception.
- Zipperer’s touchdown catches were the second and third of his career, Copeland’s was his third, and Henderson’s was his first.
Grimes and Zipperer both recorded the first multi-touchdown games of their careers.
Zipperer matched his career high (set against Towson last year) with three receptions.
Henderson set career highs for receptions (three) and receiving yards (62).
Kadarius Toney tied his career high with seven receptions, marking his third seven-reception game of the season.
- Toney has five-plus receptions in five of UF’s six games this year; he entered 2020 with one.
Emory Jones scored the fifth rushing touchdown of his career and his first since a three-touchdown outing against Vanderbilt last season (Nov. 9, 2019).
- The last touchdown Jones accounted for was a 6-yard touchdown pass to Van Jefferson in the third quarter of last year’s Florida State game (Nov. 30, 2019).

Gators Defense

Zachary Carter’s fumble return touchdown was Florida’s first defensive touchdown since Jonathan Greenard’s 80-yard fumble return touchdown against Vanderbilt last season.

Explosive Plays

Keon Zipperer (from Trask): 31-yard reception, 1st quarter
Trevon Grimes (from Trask): 23-yard touchdown reception, 2nd quarter
Xzavier Henderson (from Trask–flea flicker): 43-yard reception, 2nd quarter (career-long reception)
Justin Shorter (from Trask): 21-yard touchdown reception, 2nd quarter
Trevon Grimes (from Trask): 21-yard reception, 2nd quarter
Jacob Copeland (from Trask): 33-yard touchdown reception, 2nd quarter
Kadarius Toney (from Trask): 21-yard reception, 2nd quarter
Dameon Pierce: 10-yard rush, 3rd quarter
Malik Davis: 11-yard rush, 3rd quarter
Malik Davis: 11-yard rush, 3rd quarter (first play after previous 11-yard rush)
Trevon Grimes (from Trask): 30-yard reception, 4th quarter
Nay’Quan Wright: 14-yard rush, 4th quarter
Zachary Carter: 35-yard fumble return touchdown, 4th quarter
Emory Jones: 11-yard rush, 4th quarter

Series Updates

The Gators improve their all-time record against Arkansas to 10-2.
Florida is a perfect 5-0 against the Razorbacks in Gainesville.
UF’s 63 points are the most it has ever scored against Arkansas, breaking its previous series high of 56 from a 56-7 win in 1997.

Other

Dan Mullen matched Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer for the best record through 32 games in school history – all three were 26-6.
Florida Game Captains: Marco Wilson
Arkansas won the toss and deferred to the second half; Arkansas defended the north end zone
Attendance: 16,116

2020 Florida Football Postgame Quotes

Dan Mullen, Florida Head Coach

On what tonight’s performance says about the depth of the team…

“I think guys did a great job. We talk about guys being prepared when their number is called to come in and perform and make plays, and I think that is such a huge deal for us. A lot of times, next guy up mentality, come in and go make plays. You know, you’re down Kyle Pitts, a great playmaker, but then (Kemore) Gamble and (Keon) Zipperer step up and have really good games. Wideouts did a really nice job, and Kyle Trask did a really good job distributing the ball, not getting panicked, taking what they were going to give us all night. They played a lot of dime, three-down, soft on defense and that’s not where you’re going to get explosive play after explosive play. You’re going to have to kind of inch your way down the field.”

On how a game plan can differ from game to game…

“I think every game is very different. I know you guys look at things and say okay, well why didn’t we score more points in the second half, or why do we do this? Well, you know, if you’re playing for the game and you know, these guys are a super up-tempo, a great second-half team that have come back and won a lot of games so, we knew that we needed to score in the second half, not just control the tempo. You know, they hit a bunch of explosive plays and can score in a hurry… we needed to keep scoring offensively. There’s other games where we’ve really kinda changed the tempo of the game and maybe slowed it down with a big lead and, you know, play to look at the field position, but a lot of things depend on who your opponent is and what they’re doing.”

On Kyle Pitts’ injury status…

“He had a nose surgery. It was something he had to have a surgery, his nose or something. He’ll be out again this week and we’re hoping to have him back the following week after that.”

On establishing the run…

“Well you know, you’re coming in, you didn’t know how they were going to play us. They played us in a lot of dime defense with three down linemen, two backers, six DBs, so I think they kinda came in with the mindset of stop the pass first, or we are going to kinda drop everybody to make you really have to execute and not give up explosive plays and keep everything in front of us, which is a pretty good plan, but we came out when we saw that that was what they were going to do and we kinda transitioned to be a little bit more run, to establish the run. Kyle (Trask) did a good job and the offense did a good job of getting us into play calls to attack what they were doing defensively.”

On Feleipe Franks and Arkansas…

“To come in here in this type of environment, he was 15-of-19 for 250 and two touchdowns. I thought Feleipe (Franks) played pretty well. I think there was some guys that were excited to hit him, been waiting for years to hit him. I think this, you know, that team came in here, you watch them, they didn’t give up, continued to battle, scored 35 points against us. A lot of those at the end right there that the 2’s gave up but it shows that what their program- they’re going to continue to battle, continue to fight, we knew that coming in. What Sam (Pittman) was- I know he couldn’t be here tonight, but I know Barry (Odom) really well and you see the personality that he has. They’re going to have the mental toughness to fight, that doesn’t surprise you when they have Feleipe (Franks) at quarterback. That he is able to go in there- you know, I mean I’m seeing a guy that really just shows up on campus as a grad transfer and becomes the team captain. That just shows the type of character, the person he is.”

2020 Florida Football Postgame Quotes

Florida Student-Athletes

#11 Kyle Trask, Redshirt Senior, Quarterback

On how he assesses his performance following another six-touchdown game…

“I think I just did a great job of just being efficient and taking it one play at a time. I also think our offense as an entire unit did a great job of executing – they’re on 11 doing their job every single play, and I think that’s why we had such success tonight.”

On the flea-flicker, bobbling the pitch, and recovering…

“They were bringing a blitz off the edge, and it kind of pushed the pocket back. It wasn’t the greatest exchange between us. We’ve got to clean that up. I picked it up and saw Xzavier Henderson had a step on (a defender). Threw it as far as I could flat-footed, seeing if he could make a play and he did a great job.”

On what it was like going up against Feleipe Franks in a game…

“On the outside, it’s really cool. But when it comes down to it, you’re just playing football. It’s just your next opponent. That’s why it’s such a big game, because it’s your next one. After the game, we got to talk. That was pretty cool.”

On the offense’s versatility and depth…

“It’s awesome. We’ve known this ever since fall camp how many weapons we have. Even when we had (Kyle) Pitts… a lot of people like to try to double team him and shut him down. That leaves other guys one on one. This week, everybody did a great job of stepping up, beating their matchups and making plays on the ball.”

#13 Donovan Stiner, Senior, Defensive Back

On the big plays and defensive breakdowns…

“I think we need to clean up a few things. It is the little things that can make big plays. We need to stay consistent and not miss assignments. As you can see, one missed assignment can lead to a big play.”

On what’s the reaction on the sideline when those big plays happen…

“My mindset is: next play, have to go out there and get it back, and get it back to our offense.”

On what the emotions were like facing Feleipe Franks and the lead up this week…

“It was a big game. A night game in The Swamp, facing our old quarterback, and our emotions were running high. The defense was pumped up and was ready to put on a great performance.”

#17 Zachary Carter, Redshirt Junior, Defensive Lineman

On the performance tonight and the fumble recovery touchdown…

“We came out, we got the win. We were happy we got the win, but obviously we know there are some things we have to clean up. Our guys, especially on defense, we take a lot of pride. I feel like we gave up too many points. They shouldn’t have scored that many points. We have to go back as a defense and fix some things.”

On the last time he scored a touchdown…

“Probably little league. I did the same thing in little league. I was like eight. It’s a good feeling. I always wanted to do that in The Swamp. I finally did it.”

On whether it’s a concern giving up so many big plays…

“We gave up some real big plays, and for our defense that’s unacceptable. We have to come back this week and clean some things up.”