Notebook: Trask homecoming spoiled, Davis fumbles, Mullen wants more fans

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Kyle Trask’s trip to Kyle Field was an amazing story this week, but it did not have a happy ending for the Florida quarterback.

He revealed last Monday that his parents, both of whom attended Texas A&M in the late 1980’s, named him after the Aggies’ football field. Trask had more than 30 family members in the stands Saturday.

“It’s a really nice stadium. I’ve been here a couple times, “Trask said. “It was a cool experience to play with all my family there, but obviously not the result we wanted.”

Trask put on a show in his home state, throwing for 312 yards and four touchdowns on 23-of-32 passing. It marked the sixth 300-yard performance of his career and his third straight game with at least four TD passes after just one in 2019.

Trask now has 996 passing yards through three games, the most by a UF quarterback to start a season since Rex Grossman in 2001 (1,008 yards). Despite his individual success, he was disappointed to see the Gators lose a fourth-quarter lead and turn it over on their final possession.

“Obviously really frustrating, you know, to be that close,” Trask said. “There was a point in the game where we got the game almost locked away. So we just got to be able to put our foot down and put the game away or else. Therefore, things like this won't happen.”

With the score tied at 38, Florida’s offense took over with under five minutes to play and the chance for a go-ahead drive.

Trask started off the series with a 23-yard completion to running back Malik Davis, his third grab of the day. He finished with a career high 73 receiving yards, eclipsing his previous high of 33 yards against Ole Miss.

“Think he played very well,” Trask said of Davis. “He was able to make people miss in space.”

Davis is up to eight receptions for 119 yards and has filled the void left by Lamical Perine as a pass catcher out of the backfield. Florida coach Dan Mullen was confident Davis’ catch-and-run would lead to a win.

“We got the ball with four minutes to go. We were probably 10 yards away from being in the field-goal range, to run out the clock and kick the field goal,” Mullen said. “Unfortunately we turn it over.”

The Gators handed it off to Davis two plays later and he fumbled at midfield, leading to A&M’s game-winning field goal. Trask said the loss couldn’t be pinned on the late turnover by Davis, who carried the ball five times for 21 yards.

“Obviously he had that fumble, but at the end of the day we shouldn’t have been in that situation,” Trask said. “We had plenty of opportunities to put the game away. So you can’t blame it all on one play because it shouldn’t have even been close.”

Texas A&M’s announced attendance Saturday was 24,709, nearly 10,000 more fans than the Gators had for their opener against South Carolina.

During his post-game press conference, Mullen mentioned the crowd size in College Station and requested more fans for UF home games. He cited the news last Wednesday by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who lifted COVID-19 restrictions and said all stadiums in Florida could operate at full capacity.

“I know our governor passed that rule, so certainly, hopefully the university administration decides to let us pack the Swamp against LSU … 100 percent, because that crowd was a major factor in the game,” Mullen said. “So I certainly hope our university administration follows the governor. The governor has passed a rule that we’re allowed to pack the Swamp and have 90,000 in the Swamp to give us the home-field advantage Texas A&M had.”

Mullen was asked to clarify his comments about filling up Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

“Absolutely want to see 90,000 in The Swamp,” Mullen said. “I don’t think the section behind our bench, I didn’t see an empty seat. It was packed. The student section was behind our bench going crazy.

“Hopefully, that creates a home-field advantage for us next week because now we passed a law in our state that we can do that. We want our students out there cheering us on to give us that home-field advantage.”

UF released this statement Thursday in response to DeSantis’ ruling: “We will continue to follow the guidance provided by our experts at UF Health as well as campus officials.” Trask and running back Nay’Quan Wright said they weren’t bothered by the crowd noise at A&M.

“It’s nothing that we couldn't manage,” Trask said. “The crowd was definitely into it. They had some good support there, I’ll give them that. It was nothing that we couldn't manage, but we just gotta be ready to play in any environment given to us.”