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Why Trask's last two games solidified him as the Heisman frontrunner

Florida quarterback Kyle Trask.
Florida quarterback Kyle Trask. (Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports)

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The win over Georgia provided a Heisman moment for Florida quarterback Kyle Trask, but the past two games have solidified him as the frontrunner for college football's most coveted trophy.

Trask entered the conversation during the first few weeks of the season, including a 416-yard, six-touchdown performance in the opener, but his career-high 474 yards against the Bulldogs put everyone on notice.

At that point, the only argument against Trask was really this: he’s so good because of Kyle Pitts — a Heisman candidate himself.

Fair enough.

Those six scores Trask threw at Ole Miss? Pitts caught four of them. After just two games, he led the nation in receiving touchdowns (6) and ranked ninth nationally among all FBS players with 113.5 receiving yards per game. Following Pitts’ injury against UGA, the Gators scored just two field goals in the second half after Trask and the offense accounted for four passing TDs and 38 points before the break.

Trask still set a new SEC record that day and made his case for the Heisman, but how productive would he be with his go-to target sidelined?

Ha.

In his first game without Pitts, Trask threw six touchdowns — including five in the first half — and no picks against an Arkansas secondary ranked third nationally in turnover margin and second in the SEC in pass defense. He became the first quarterback in school history with six TDs in multiple games and broke Tua Tagovailoa’s SEC record for the most passing scores through the first six games.

“It shows what I’ve said all along: he does such a great job of taking advantage of what the defense is going to give,” Mullen said of Trask’s performance without Pitts. “It’s not like, ‘Hey, I’m just going to throw the ball to a Kyle Pitts. I’m going to look at the matchups that I have and go take advantage of those matchups out there on the field.’”

No Pitts? No problem.

Trask threw two touchdowns to tight end Keon Zipperer against Arkansas, while receiver Trevon Grimes caught a pair of scores as well and a career-high six receptions for 109 yards. Trask targeted different players at Vanderbilt, with Kadarius Toney recording his first career 100-yard receiving game and tight end Kemore Gamble finishing with career highs in catches (3), yards (66) and touchdowns (2).

Jacob Copeland and Justin Shorter also set career highs against the Commodores with five receptions apiece, proving that Trask's production is more than the Kyle-to-Kyle connection.

“Obviously Pitts brings a lot of mismatches to defenses, but at the same time we have so many great tight ends and receivers,” Trask said. “I’m still going to trust my guys to get open no matter who’s out there. … I’m just trying to read the defense and find the open guy at the end of the day.”

His 400-yard outings against Ole Miss and Georgia are the only games that topped his 383 passing yards at Vandy, which marked his fifth straight 300-yard performance. Trask also posted his second-highest completion percentage (74.3) and third-highest QBR (94.0) of the season in Nashville.

“I heard somebody say something like, ‘Boy, you know he had his worst performance of the year.’ When that’s your worst performance the year ... things are going pretty well,” Mullen said. “I thought if Kyle went 26 of 35 for 383 and three touchdowns with no interceptions against a team that was 100 percent stop the pass first, that’s pretty darn good performance against that type of look.”

Trask could’ve had a fourth touchdown against the ’Dores, but Mullen inserted backup quarterback Emory Jones into the game and he threw a 30-yard score to Gamble. That ended Trask’s record-setting streak of consecutive games with four TDs at six games, but he could be seen on the sideline clapping for Jones and celebrating with him after the play.

Zero ego.

“I don’t care if I throw 10 touchdowns or zero touchdowns, I just want to win,” Trask said of his streak ending. “It was pretty much the dagger, it put the game away. [Emory] made the right read.”

Trask made SEC history again last Saturday, passing Joe Burrow and Tim Couch for the most touchdown passes through seven games. His stats are off the charts and there isn’t another Heisman candidate who can sniff his 31 scores right now:

Kyle Trask: 2,554 yards, 31 touchdowns, three interceptions, 70.7 completion rate (174 of 246), 93.6 QBR

Mac Jones: 2,426 yards, 18 touchdowns, three interceptions, 77.1 completion rate (155 of 201), 95.3 QBR

Trevor Lawrence: 1,833 yards, 17 touchdowns, two interceptions, 70. 7 completion rate (135 of 191), 86.5 QBR

Justin Fields: 1,208 yards, 13 touchdowns, three interceptions, 79.7 completion rate (90 of 113), 93.7 QBR

This race isn’t over yet, and could come down to a duel between Jones and Trask for the SEC title. Since Trask nor Mullen will campaign for the Heisman, Jones did it for him this week.

“I don't think anybody in the country is playing the way he is right now,” Jones said of Trask. “Just the way he's operating and managing the game, I feel like that's the guy who's going to actually win the Heisman. The things he's doing are crazy.”

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