Florida wins SEC East by rolling past Tennessee
Florida coach Dan Mullen promised a national championship before he’d even coached a game for the Gators.
Bold words, but Mullen took the biggest step yet to backing them up with Saturday’s SEC East-clinching win at Tennessee.
The Gators’ 31-19 victory in Neyland Stadium was not their best effort of a special season, but was enough to earn Florida a trip to the SEC Championship Game for the first time since 2016.
This time, though, quarterback Kyle Trask and a high-scoring offense give Florida a puncher’s chance in Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz Stadium, presumably against top-ranked, high-scoring Alabama — 54-16 winners during the 2016 title game.
At Tennessee, the No. 6 Gators (8-1) relied on a familiar formula for success — sandwiching halftime with a pair of touchdowns — and perhaps college football’s best 1-2 punch in the passing game to shake off a slow start in Knoxville.
Clinging to a 10-7 lead and with “Rocky Top” ringing in his ears, Trask marched the Gators 80 yards on 10 plays, culminating with a 15-yard third-down completion to tight end Kyle Pitts followed by a 2-yard touchdown pass to Kadarius Toney, the senior’s 10th touchdown in 2020.
The Gators emerged from the locker room and quickly drove 75 yards on five plays, highlighted by a 42-yard catch by Pitts on a gorgeous timing route with Trask. The series ended with senior receiver Trevon Grimes’ 8-yard touchdown catch, his eighth of the season.
Pitts and Toney were on the receiving end of 15 of Trask’s 35 completions and combined for 238 of the quarterback’s 433 yards. Meanwhile, Grimes caught two of Trask’s four touchdown throws.
Trask even added a 32-yard pooch punt for good measure, pinning Tennessee on its 4-yard line late in the game. Trask’s kick did not rival Steve Spurrier’s 40-yard field goal to beat Auburn on his way the 1966 Heisman Trophy, the first of three awarded Florida quarterbacks.
Trask’s right arm is mounting enough of a campaign. The redshirt senior’s 38 touchdown passes are one shy of Danny Wuerffel’s record in 1996.
Wuerffel would go on to win the Heisman Trophy and the Gators a national title. Those lofty goals remain within reach during Mullen’s third season in Gainesville.
But Florida has much to improve on following a shaky start Saturday against the struggling, 17.5-point underdog Vols (2-6). A COVID-19 outbreak within the program forced Tennessee to turn to freshman quarterback Harrison Bailey, who started in pace of veteran Jarrett Guarantano just coming out of quarantine.
Bailey appeared up for the challenge. He gave his team to a 7-3 lead on a masterful 96-yard drive spanning 11 plays, including seven completed passes for 70 yards.
An announced crowd of 22,943 serenaded Tennessee with renditions of “Rocky Top,” the school’s famous fight song. Bailey and the Vols soon reverted to form, while the Gators eventually coasted to their 15th win in 16 meetings during a series that at one time was the best in the SEC.
The Gators will host struggling LSU next week before turning their attention to bigger matters — finding a way to win the school’s first SEC championship since 2008.
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