Saturday, November 14, 2020 | Football, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — It had been five years since the Florida Gators boarded their caravan of buses out of Jacksonville knowing they'd just seized control of the Southeastern Conference East Division.
No doubt it felt as good then as it did last Saturday.
UF's 44-28 rout of Georgia was one of the truly feel-good moments of the Dan Mullen era, but you better believe Mullen has reminded his team that the statement Kyle Trask and friends made on the St. John's River will mean next to nothing if the Gators (4-1, 4-1), now No. 6 in the Associated Press poll, are unable to take care of business the rest of the way, starting with Saturday night's date against Arkansas (3-3, 3-3) at Spurrier/Florida Field.
[Read senior writer Scott Carter's comprehensive "Opening Kickoff" preview here]
The biggest pregame storyline, of course, is the return to the "Swamp" of quarterback Feleipe Franks, who grad-transferred from UF to Arkansas last offseason while recovering from the grisly broken ankle suffered in the second game of the 2019 season. That injury, which occurred at Kentucky, opened the door for Kyle Trask, who took full advantage of the battlefield promotion by passing his way to second-team All-SEC honors last season.
Former UF quarterbackFeleipe Franks has completed 67.2 percent of his passes for 1,428 yards, 14 touchdowns and three interceptions.
Trask picked up in '20 where he left off in '19 and because of it the Gators have all their goals still in front of them halfway through the truncated 2020 season. Now, it's a matter of dealing with the task at hand, which means the Razorbacks. They're all that matter, and they're certainly capable of ruining Florida's season.
And wouldn't Franks, barely two years removed from his infamous South Carolina "shhhush" to the home Florida fans, love that.
What's gone on in Fayetteville this season is among the best stories in the SEC, given what went on there the previous two under Chad Morris, who went 4-18 overall — and 0-14 against league opponents — before being fired late in the 2018 season. The school turned to Sam Pittman, associate head coach/offensive line coach at Georgia, who got the Hogs off the SEC snide in just the second week of '20. Through six games, the most recent being last week's 24-13 home defeat of Tennessee, is already a single conference win shy of equaling the number of SEC wins the previous three coaches (Morris, interim Barry Lunney Jr., and Brett Bielma) tallied over the last four seasons (2016-19).
Pittman, however, tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week and will not coach against the Gators. His place will on the sideline will be taken by defensive coordinator Barry Odom, who as head coach at Missouri (2016-19) fashioned a pair of blowout beatings — 45-16 in 2017 at Columbia, then 38-17 in Mullen's first season at Gainesville — of the Gators.
And then there's Franks, who went 13-3 as a starter during Mullen's two seasons.
To date, the 6-foot-6, 228-pounder has completed 67.2 percent of his passes for 1,428 yards, 14 touchdowns and three interceptions. Only one of those picks has come in the past five games, helping the Hogs to a plus-8 turnover margin that ranks 11th in the country. With those Franks numbers in number, remember what happened last week against Georgia? The Bulldogs had a bevy of receivers running open in the UF secondary, but their quarterbacks either missed the intended targets or had passes dropped. A number of those instances would have been huge plays that might have changed the outcome.
Overall, the Arkansas offense ranks 84th nationally (ninth in the SEC) at 376.7 yards per game, including ninth rushing (138.8), with tailbacks Trelon Smith (323 yards) and Rakeem Boyd (253 yards, 2 TD) tag-teaming the position. Franks' top targets are wideouts Treylon Burks (31 catches, 323 yards, 5 TD) and Mike Woods (21 for 284, 2 TD).
Defensively, UF is giving up 402.0 yards per game, which is ninth in the league and 59th overall, but last week held Georgia, a team decimated with injuries on both sides of the ball (and clearly QB challenged), to 277 yards — with 75 coming on the first play from scrimmage — and forced three interceptions.
Now, about that Trask fellow.
In firing four touchdowns last week, Trask came one score shy of equaling the five-game mark set last year by LSU quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow. Trask's numbers show a 68.7 completion rate, 1,815 yards, 22 touchdowns and just three interceptions. And while the Gators have shown to be mostly one dimensional on that side of the ball — UF passes more than 55 percent of the time, with 74.5 of its yards coming through the air, and averages just 4.2 yards on the ground — good luck figuring out where Trask is going with the ball. A dozen different players have caught touchdown passes and seven have snared TDs.
The Razorbacks, however, will counter with the SEC's No. 1 pass efficiency defense (and No. 2 in yards allowed per game at 222.2) and have intercepted a league-high 12 passes, helping the Hogs to plus-8 turnover margin that is tops in the league.
UF standout tight end Kyle Pitts (24 catches, 414 yards, 8 TD) was ruled out of the game earlier Saturday due to the concussion he sustained on a targeting hit against Georgia last week. That means backups Kemore Gamble and Keon Zipperer will have to step in and step up like they did a week ago. Of course, Trask also has leading receiver and all-over-the-field wingback Kadarius Toney, who has morphed into the QB's favorite target with a team-high 29 receptions for 339 yards and six scores.
Key an eye also on Florida tailbacks Dameon Pearce (221 yards, 2 TD) and Malik Davis (100 yards), the combo of whom should be afforded a chance to chalk up some yards against an Arkansas run defense that is giving up 179.34 yards per game, which is 75th nationally and next-to-last in the conference.
Backup tight end Kemore Gamble (88) could be in the UF starting lineup if All-America candidate Kyle Pitts is not cleared from concussion protocol Saturday.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN, with the crew of Bob Wischusen on play-by-play, Dan Orlovsky providing analysis, and Allison Williams working the sidelines. The game will be rebroadcast Sunday at 10:30 p.m. on SEC Network, Monday at 4 a.m. on ESPN and 5 a.m. on SEC Network, and two more times Thursday at 1 a.m. on SEC Network and again at noon. For Gator Radio Network affiliates, click here.
Finally, follow senior staff writer Scott Carter on Twitter (@GatorsScott) for commentary and analysis throughout the afternoon. FloridaGators.com will have complete coverage from the game Saturday and fresh content Sunday, as well.
