Under a full moon on Halloween night, Kyle Trask and the Florida offense couldn’t inject much fear into Missouri's defense early on.
Three weeks removed from competition due to COVID-19 complications gripping the program, a bit of rust kept Trask and his teammates from fully clicking. Two promising first-quarter drives for the Gators fizzled out in the red zone, allowing the Tigers to stay within six points.
The lack of touchdowns inside the 20 proved costly in the second quarter after Trask's arm was hit mid-throw inside of a collapsing pocket on third down. The ball landed in a Mizzou defender's hands and 59 yards later, the Tigers were on top.
Some quarterbacks crumble after a play like that, especially with how the game started. Trask didn't waver though, which is what UF head coach Dan Mullen expects from his veteran signal caller.
“I don’t think he gets frustrated with that. I don't get upset with the pick six, he got hit as he threw the ball,” Mullen said. “We were talking to him about getting it out of his hands a little quicker. I think he’ll tell you, I mean, I don’t think we’re as crisp as we want to be.
“You don’t practice for two weeks, you have a bunch of guys missing practice during the week, I think you’re going to be a little bit rusty coming out there. I think you saw that with Kyle at times, but you know what, he’s a veteran guy. I don’t think he lets that bother him.
Trask shrugged off the pick-six and went on to score 28 straight points in the eventual 41-17 victory, ending up with nearly 350 yards passing to go with four touchdown passes.
“We did have a little bit of a slow start,” Trask said, “but we knew if we just stuck to the gameplan we’d start winning out matchups and playing a little cleaner. That’s what we did.”
The rust was cleared, Florida’s offense looked as explosive as it did before the outbreak and Trask ended the night still in the Heisman race conversation. Through four games, he has thrown for 1,341 yards, 18 TDs and just two interceptions.
Along with the victory, the redshirt senior earned some major accolades as well. His 18 touchdown passes through four games is a new SEC record and with his fourth-straight game of tossing at least four touchdowns, he became the first quarterback in school history to accomplish such a feat.
Those records are even more impressive when you consider the fact that he did so with a limited offseason and against all-SEC competition, as well as a three-week hiatus between the third and fourth game.
Trask and the eighth-ranked Gators fought off adversity against Missouri, but will need to avoid a bad start and come out ready this Saturday if they hope to beat No. 5 Georgia for the first time since 2016.
“Any win, especially when you got an all-SEC schedule, is huge,” Trask said. “At the end of the day, it’s just a huge win for us. It gives us a little bit of momentum going into the next week.”
