GAINESVILLE, Fla. — There are three statues of Heisman Trophy winners in front of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Kyle Trask may soon join Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel and Tim Tebow.
Trask threw for six touchdowns to lead No. 6 Florida to a 63-35 victory that included another gritty performance by the outmanned Razorbacks.
Arkansas played without head coach Sam Pittman, who was watching from his home after testing positive for covid-19 on Sunday night. Defensive coordinator Barry Odom moved from the press box to the sideline as interim coach. There’s no good place to call signals against Trask.
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Florida’s senior quarterback completed 23 of 29 passes for 356 yards. It was the second time Trask has thrown for six touchdowns in a game this season. He has thrown for 28 touchdowns through six games.
Arkansas quarterback Feleipe Franks, the former Florida starter, fought gamely against his old teammates. Welcomed with mild boos when he entered the game, Franks completed 15 of 19 passes for 250 yards. He completed TD passes of 47 and 82 yards to Mike Woods, but the Hogs converted just 3 of 9 third downs.
Conversely, Trask led an offense that didn’t punt until midway through the third quarter. The Gators moved the chains on 9 of 12 third downs.
It was the kind of antiseptic performance that should continue to wow Heisman Trophy voters. He impressed Arkansas linebacker Grant Morgan with the cool way he manipulated the defensive scheme.
“He is really good with his eyes,” Morgan said. “He looked us off a lot. He was looking off the high safety or the middle linebacker flooding into the hole.”
Odom wasn’t surprised. He saw Trask last year as Missouri's head coach.
“He’s so impressive,” Odom said. “I’ve played against him a couple of times. I was super impressed.
“He’s got a terrific arm. You saw how confident he is with his playmakers. He’s a heckuva quarterback. I would suggest he’s going to win a lot more games moving forward.”
Arkansas did stop some Florida plays in the first half. It just didn’t seem like it after the Gators rolled to a 35-14 lead at intermission.
Trask completed 18 of 22 for 285 yards and five touchdowns against a secondary that ranked second in the SEC allowing just 222.2 yards in its first six games.
The Hogs opened in a three-man front. That enticed the Gators to try their ground game on the opening drive. They ran nine times in a 14-play, 75-yard touchdown march that included a fourth-and-1 conversion at the Razorbacks' 8-yard line, a 3-yard plunge by Trask.
The Hogs answered in just five plays, the final 47 yards on a Franks sideline bomb to Woods. Cornerback Kaiir Elam was beaten on a straight go route after a Franks play-action fake.
The Hogs came up with their only stop of the first half on a fourth-and-1 play from their 16-yard line. Jonathan Marshall slanted into a running play for a 3-yard loss, then Trask — pressured by Zach Williams — was wide on a flare to the sideline for running back Malik Davis.
Arkansas got a break on a rare low block by a Florida defender on a screen pass to Boyd, a 14-yard gainer and a 15-yard penalty. But they failed on fourth-and-1 to start the second quarter, a Franks slant for Woods that was broken up by linebacker Ventrell Miller.
“I wanted our team to know we were in it to win it," Odom said of the gamble. "I’d do it again. We had a vertical (and the slant) and they got a finger tip on it. We were going to do everything to go get (a win).”
That’s when Trask caught fire for touchdown drives of 49, 74, 65 and 53 yards. The Hogs alternately tried an extra man in the box — safety Jalen Catalon — or dropping eight. There was not enough pressure in either scheme and enough time for wheel routes, crossing routes and curls to develop.
It didn’t help that the Hogs busted some coverage, sometimes at cornerback and sometimes at safety. Odom had to check the big screen board on some of the miscommunications.
The Hogs were penalized on three kickoffs, once for a boot out of bounds and twice for holding. One of the holding calls came on a long kickoff return by De’Vion Warren after the Gators were penalized for celebrating a touchdown.
The only other Arkansas highlight in the first half was Trelon Smith’s 83-yard touchdown romp to cut the lead to 21-14 at the 6:55 mark of the second quarter. He slid through a hole at left guard and a nifty cutback behind a Blake Kern block allowed him to score untouched.
The two touchdown plays accounted for 130 of the 226 yards the Hogs made in the first half. Franks completed 6 of 8 for 102 yards before halftime.
Arkansas cut the deficit to 35-21 with a nine-play, 75-yard drive to open the third quarter on Boyd’s 12-yard touchdown run, then forced the first Florida punt after Eric Gregory sacked Trask. Florida's only drop of the game came on third down.
But the Hogs made only one first down on their next three possessions as the Gators scooted to a 49-21 lead. The crowd of 16,116 began chants of “Trask for Heisman” just before his sixth touchdown pass at the 13:08 mark.
The Gators added a defensive score when defensive tackle Zachary Carter recovered a fumble by Boyd and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown to put Florida ahead 56-21.
Franks hit Woods for 82 yards on the next play and the Gators began to substitute over the final 12 minutes.
Jalen Catalon’s interception against the third-team Florida quarterback set up the final touchdown, a 12-yard run by KJ Jefferson with 40 seconds left.
Catalon competed fiercely, sending two Gators off the field with hard hits over the middle. But he was sometimes beaten in coverage, like almost all of the Razorbacks.
“Number one, (Florida) is really good,” Odom said. “We got a tip on third down and didn’t get it and we just couldn’t get off the field.
“We dropped into zone and we couldn’t get pressure. We went man and we got beat.
“At times we brought four or five to try to get (Trask) to move his feet. I have to do a better job.”
Morgan said the Gators are a good team.
"They are a couple of plays better than us," Morgan said. "Trask did what he wanted to do, but we let him do things with our mistakes.
“Our defensive backs have played great this year. Our defense is really good, but we had a bad game.”
Along with Pittman, the Hogs left four players at home because of covid-19 issues. Offensive linemen Noah Gatlin and Beaux Limmer have both been starters, but did not make the trip. Running back Dominique Johnson and linebacker Dede Edwards were the others not on the trip.
Tight end Hudson Henry, injured against Tennessee, did not play.
The Razorbacks left Gainesville with a few more injuries. Franks injured his left hand, but returned after a trip to the locker room. Safety Joe Foucha and Warren both left the game with injuries. Warren appeared to be the most seriously hurt.
Pittman talked to the team via Zoom all week, but not after the team arrived in Gainesville. He could return to his office as soon as Wednesday, if he passes a covid-19 test Tuesday. Obviously, the Hogs wanted to win for their head coach.
“I hate that we couldn’t get a win for Razorback Nation and for Coach Pittman,” Odom said. “Florida is deserving of all their accolades but I’m proud of our team for fighting. It got away from us in the first half.”
Franks drew praise from Odom and Morgan. Florida fans stayed afterward to applaud him when he finally was pulled away from Gator players and coaches.
“Franks had an excellent game,” Odom said. “He competed.”
When asked later about Franks, Odom said, “Look, I don’t know enough to critique a quarterback. But he’s gotten so much better throwing the deep ball. You take the football part out, he was stepping into this environment and (came to Arkansas) not knowing we’d play Florida. It takes a tremendous amount of fortitude to do what he did tonight.”