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Coming off a game that saw Florida score 63 points against an Arkansas defense that many believed to be one of the better units in the SEC, GatorsTerritory dishes out five takeaways from the blowout victory.
1. I said it last week and I will say it again this week: Kyle Trask deserves to be the Heisman front runner, and apparently quarterback Anthony Richardson also agrees with me, as he took to Twitter at halftime tweeting, “Aye I’m not supposed to be on my phone but somebody tell them to give Kyle [Trask] the heisman trophy already!"
Trask is setting all kinds of records this year and set two more last night, being the only quarterback in Florida history to have two games with six passing touchdowns in the same season. He also set the SEC record for most passing TDs in the first six games of the season with 28, passing former Alabama QB, Tua Tagovailoa, who had 27.
But Trask is doing it against an all-SEC schedule. He now has 2,171 yards passing for 28 touchdowns to only three interceptions and is completing 70 percent of his passes. If those aren’t Heisman worthy numbers, I don’t know what are.
2. Florida’s big-play defense still needs a lot of work. While I will say UF's defense has improved since the beginning of the year, they are still giving up way too many big plays and we saw that again last night.
Of Arkansas’ five touchdowns on the night, three of them came from explosive plays. A 47-yard pass from Franks to Mike Woods for the first Razorbacks touchdown of the night, an 83-yard run by Trelon Smith midway through the second quarter, and an 82-yard pass from Franks to Woods again early in the fourth.
If Florida is going to make a run at the playoffs, they will need to get that fixed because schools like Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State will be able to exploit that.
3. Florida’s offensive line looks like they are finding their groove in the run game. The Gators ran for over 200 yards for the first time all year, and the o-line looks like they are starting to move people around more consistently while run blocking.
The running backs had a few nice holes to run through, and on third and short, they were able to just man up and move people to get it on the ground, something they didn’t do well last year or the beginning part of this year.
4. Trevon Grimes is capable of being a number one target. In Kyle Pitts’ absence, I was curious to see who would step up and take over the role of Kyle Trask’s number one target and Trevon Grimes was that guy.
Grimes hauled in six catches for 109 yards and two touchdowns on the night and made several key grabs throughout the game when the Gators needed a first down. With his size and speed, he is a mismatch for defenses and showed just that Saturday night.
5. Xzavier Henderson is going to be a star at Florida. Xzavier (the younger brother of former Gators CB CJ Henderson) was able to consistently get behind the Razorbacks' defense. Even when the ball wasn’t thrown his way you could see him getting open.
Henderson, like his brother, has elite speed and showed good hands when making a couple of tough grabs on the night, including his first ever touchdown in a Gator uniform. The future definitely looks bright for the young man and Florida’s receiving corps.
Stay tuned to GatorsTerritory.
