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. It’s always tough to play on the road in the SEC. So many questions, you don’t know you’re expecting, you don’t know what’s going to be happening with the atmosphere, with everything, the kickoff. It was just great playing football, to be honest with you. So great to be out there playing football again. And for our guys, now this game is in the books. We get to go back. We have a lot of things we have to clean up. We have a lot of things to get better at from Week 1 to Week 2. The question of, “are we playing next week, when do we play, how long is training camp, when is this ever going to happen, when are we ever going to get to a game?” We got to a game. We played well in the game and made a lot of plays that we needed to make. We’ll get a lot better in the coming weeks on both sides of the ball, cleaning some things up. A great day for us and a great win.”
On Kyle Trask…
“There’s a lot to being a veteran quarterback, especially in this situation. He comes out in Game 1 to a new defensive coordinator on a new staff that you don’t know a lot about. We kept a base offense of what we were doing. He did a good job of managing the whole offense, managing the whole game, getting us into the right plays. All the adjustments we made on the sidelines, he did a great job getting to those adjustments and creating or finding the mismatches all over the field. I think we did a really good job with that all day.”
On Ole Miss’ offense…
“We have to be a lot better at that to be honest with you. We’ve tackled twice since the Orange Bowl. Normally, you have a lot of spring ball and physicality, you’re getting tackled. We only did two in our scrimmages, and they were spread out over this long period of time. We were down some guys defensively today and, hopefully, we get some guys back next week. You add all of that together and we just haven’t played a lot of football, which you saw today. We haven’t hit a quarterback since the Orange Bowl last year. You look at all the quarterback scrambles that went on today – in practice, you aren’t allowed to touch a quarterback. We’ve only tackled twice since the Orange Bowl last year. I think that’s going to get better and, obviously, give them credit. They did a great job. They have some talented guys and they did a great job of getting their talented guys the ball the same way we did – creating matchups. Lane (Kiffin) does a really good job offensively of creating matchups out there on the field. You give them credit for that, as well. We just have get cleaner and better for next week.”
On setting a school record with 642 total yards against an SEC opponent…
“Trust me, I will (nit-pick). There’s a lot of little things. We made a lot of plays, we did some things. We have to finish a little better up front in the run game – couple of misreads in the pass game. Not just quarterbacks, receivers and route-running. We just have to be cleaner. We saw early a couple of dropped passes. Not real drops – contested catches. In practice, you catch it and people don’t always hit you. Now you’re getting hit all of the time. I think we’ll get better. I heard that it was a school record for offense (against an SEC opponent). I would expect when I get home that my neighbor, Coach Spurrier, will have a really nice bottle of wine sitting on my desk, if I broke one of his records offensively. That’s at least deserving of a nice bottle of wine, I think.”
On Kyle Pitts…
“He’s a special player. One of the things you always try to do is create matchups, and you saw some of the matchups we were able to create with him today. He’s that matchup problem. As a tight end, that’s what you like. You get backers matched up on him and that’s a problem for them in the pass game. You put DBs on him in the run game and he’s a physical blocker at the point of attack. That’s what you want in the tight end position. We’ve been seeing it in training camp. I know he’s had a chip on his shoulder and really wanted to show what he could be this year. To me, he’s really taken a step forward as being a complete tight end and what we want.”
On Kadarius Toney…
“I think one of the things we talked to him a bunch about was, ‘Every time you get the ball, it’s okay to get vertical and get 4-5 yards.’ You don’t have to run around 70 yards to get those four yards. Just drop pads and get vertical. I think you saw him do that. Last year, a lot of the time he was banged up a little bit. We used him in kind of a get-it-to situations and now you see that he’s developed into an every-down player. His route running ability, his blocking. Obviously, he’s exciting when we put the ball in his hands. You just see the every-down capabilities that he has as a playmaker. You look at Pitts, one of the things you want to do is have playmakers all over the field. Where do you want to focus? You want to focus on one guy, we’re going to get it to the other guy. We had 11 different receivers have catches today. We’re going to take what you give us and if you give us whatever great matchup you give us, we’re going to go and take advantage.”
2020 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Florida Student-Athletes
No. 5 Florida 51, Ole Miss 35
September 26, 2020
#11 Kyle Trask, Redshirt Senior, Quarterback
On his performance against…
“I just feel like we had a great game plan. We had answers for every look they were throwing us, and had some great checks that we executed well. Overall, it was just a great team game. Everybody executed from start to finish.”
On what Kyle Pitts brings to the table for a quarterback…
“(He can) do a lot of things. He’s a matchup nightmare for defenses. He’s too big for corners, and too fast for linebackers, so it gives defenses a lot of struggle. And that’s one thing that you love to see.”
On his last touchdown pass to Pitts…
“I saw he was, not technically double covered, but I feel like he had a great position to make a play on the ball and I just threw it up to him and let him do what he does best.”
On what Kadarius Toney brings to the team…
“He’s a great competitor and he’s a huge weapon for us. He’s very slippery in the open field and makes a lot of huge plays.”
On the offensive line’s performance…
“I thought they played really, really well from start to finish. We have a lot of guys that have a lot of experience down there, and it really showed today. They were calling out blitzes and communicating very well. It was just a great game, top down, from start to finish.”
#84 Kyle Pitts, Junior, Tight End
On if he scored four touchdowns in a game before…
“No, sir, I haven’t.”
On his connection with Kyle Trask…
“Me and Kyle – it’s like a gel. We worked a lot together and I feel like it showed.”
On using the phrase ‘Kyle to Kyle’…
“It’s just me and Kyle always talking. We’re good friends. Kyle to Kyle, we go around saying it as a joke.”
On sitting out scrimmages during camp…
“I’m pretty confident in myself, but all the preparation and practice – I feel like I practice pretty hard, too. I feel like it translated to the game.”
On if he came out today trying to block angry…
“Yeah. That’s a compliment. I appreciate that.”
On concentrating more on his run blocking…
“I feel like that was a big focus of mine this offseason. That’s something that people questioned, so I wanted to make sure the first game to come out, be consistent to start the year as a good blocker in the run game.”
On his stiff arm…
“All week they kind of played a look where there was a MIKE linebacker on me and if we had that, it was me versus him. I feel like once I caught it, and once I stiffed arm him, I could trust my speed to keep going.”
On how you can improve after putting up a record offensive number
“I feel like this offense… there’s still things we can clean up in the run game. A little cleaner in certain areas.”
OLE MISS 35, FLORIDA 51
Sept. 26, 2020 • Vaught-Hemingway Stadium
POSTGAME NOTES
SERIES INFORMATION
• Today was the 25th meeting all-time between Ole Miss and Florida.
• The all-time series is now tied 12-12-1 … Florida now holds a 6-2 edge in Oxford.
• This marked the first time since 2007 that the two teams have faced each other in Oxford.
CAPTAINS
• Ben Brown (OL), Jaylon Jones (DB), Elijah Moore (WR)
STARTERS
• Eight different Rebels started their first game in an Ole Miss uniform: Offense: Nick Broeker (OL), Jeremy James (OL), Reese McIntyre (OL), Kenny Yeboah (TE); Defense: A.J. Finley (FS), Jakorey Hawkins (CB), K.D. Hill (NT), Tavius Robinson (Buck)
• OL Ben Brown tallied his team-leading 25th consecutive start for Ole Miss on the offensive line.
• WR Elijah Moore registered his 17th consecutive start for the Rebels.
REBEL DEBUTS
• Eight different Rebels made their Ole Miss debut today vs. Florida: Daylen Gill (LB), Cedric Johnson (OLB), Deanne Leonard (DB), Henry Parrish Jr. (RB), Jamar Richardson (DB), Tavius Robinson (OLB), Chase Rogers (TE), Kenny Yeboah (TE).
GENERAL NOTES
• Attendance for today’s game was 13,926.
• This game kicked off the 126th season of football at Ole Miss and the first under head coach Lane Kiffin.
• This marked the third straight season opener that Kiffin has faced a top-5 team to start the season (No. 5 Ohio State [2019], No. 5 Oklahoma [2018]). • The Rebels are now 92-29-5 (.750 winning percentage) in season openers.
] OFFENSIVE NOTES
• The 613 total yards were fourth-most against an SEC opponent in school history.
• WR Elijah Moore hauled in 10 catches for 227 yards, the second-most ever in a single game in Ole Miss history … The 227 yards are the most against an SEC opponent. • QB Matt Corral finished the game 22-of-31 for 395 yards and three touchdowns.
• The 395 passing yards by Corral were 15th most in school history in a single game.
• Jerrion Ealy led the rushing attack for Ole Miss with 16 carries for 86 yards, including one TD … The touchdown was Ealy’s seventh career rushing TD. • John Rhys Plumlee registered his first start at wide receiver for … He started eight games at QB in 2019.
• TE Kenny Yeboah hauled in five cathces for 91 yards and one TD, the first of his Ole Miss career.
• WR Dantario Drummond hauled in two catches for 60 yards and two TDs.
• The two TDs were the first of Drummond’s Ole Miss career … The 60 yards receiving were also a career high.
• Drummond also completed his first career pass, a 45-yard completion to Jerrion Ealy.
DEFENSIVE NOTES
• DB Keidron Smith led the Rebels with 12 total tackles, including eight solo stops.
• DB A.J. Finley recorded his first career interception.
• DL Tariqious Tisdale led the Rebels with 1.5 tackles for loss, which tied his career high.
• Sophomore DB Jalen Jordan set a career high in tackles with five.
• LB Ashanti Cistrunk also a career high in total tackles with five.
SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES
• P Mac Brown punted three times for an average of 49.0 yards, with a long of 54 yards.
• Ole Miss recovered an onside kick for the first time Ole Miss since 2016 when the Rebels recovered on vs. Alabama.
