Quarterback Kyle Trask (11), celebrating Saturday with tight end Lucas Krull, will have to be at his absolute poised best, along with the rest of the No. 7 Gators, when facing fifth-ranked LSU in Saturday night's nationally televised SEC showdown at Tiger Stadium.
Play It Again: For Gators, Top-10 Tigers, Part II
Monday, October 7, 2019 | Football, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A week earlier, Florida coach Dan Mullen stood at the very same lectern for his Monday media briefing and gushed about the opportunity facing his football team. A top-10 matchup of unbeatens. A sold-out and madhouse stadium. A national-television audience and ESPN "College GameDay" on site to pump up the event.
Well, less than 48 hours after the Gators' thundering home defeat of No. 7 Auburn, guess what was Mullen's overriding theme was again this Monday?
"One of the great challenges in this league is it's not the one game, it's the multiple games in this league. That's always the challenge, and that's not true in every league," said Mullen, who will lead No. 7 UF (6-0, 3-0) into Saturday night's Southeastern Conference clash with unbeaten and fifth-ranked LSU (5-0, 1-0) at packed and insane Tiger Stadium. "A lot of times you don't have these type of games in every league, where you have consecutive weeks playing top seven opponents. That's one of the great challenges in this league, one of the fun parts about being here. It's why you want to be part of the SEC."
All the elements that made Spurrier/Florida Field the best atmosphere in all of college football this past Saturday will be on display this coming Saturday — but under the infamous "Death Valley" lights.
It will be loud. It will be intimidating. It will be crazy.
It will be glorious.
"It's definitely hostile. It's kind of hard to explain to people if they've never been," said senior wide receiver Josh Hammond, who was there as a freshman in 2016 when the Gators upset the Tigers with a sterling goal-line stand on the game's final play. "Best thing I can try to tell guys is just try to block it out, focus on what we can control, focus on making plays, focus on practice this week; preparing the proper way to make sure that we're playing at a high level on Saturday. At the end of the day, no matter how hostile the environment is, it's going to go down to us just making plays."
Florida got the nation's attention over the weekend by dismantling Auburn 24-13 with the help of just enough big plays on offense to combine with a magnificent defensive effort loaded with big plays.
The Gators got a 64-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Trask to Freddie Swain on their second play from scrimmage and an 88-yard touchdown run from tailback Lamical Perine with just over nine minutes to play. In between (and down to the final gun), UF defensive coordinator Todd Grantham used a sic 'em blueprint to dishevel true freshman quarterback Bo Nix into a nightmare afternoon of errant throws and interceptions.
Against the Tigers, Trask will be that guy in the hostile-territory crosshairs. Maybe that why UF will go there as a two-touchdown underdog in the game.
No, Trask is not a true freshman, but his body of work as a fourth-year junior covers about the same number of live-game, high-pressured reps as Nix had coming into the "Swamp." How will he fare?
"We'll have to see Saturday night," said Mullen, who mentioned Trask's poise in coming in cold on the road at Kentucky last month, following the season-ending injury to Feleipe Franks, and fashioning an impressive come-from-behind win in the fourth quarter. "It's not like it's his first time ever having to step on the field in a tough environment. But we've got to do a good job, obviously, managing communication on offense."
In addition to the noise, Trask and friends will be facing a defense ranked fourth in the SEC and 17th nationally in allowing just 287.8 yards per game, a statistic that already includes a win over a top-10 team (No. 9 Texas) on the road. The Tigers are stonewalling opposing running backs to the tune of just 81 yards per game, but they've shown some vulnerability through the air, allowing 206.8 yards per game (5th in the SEC, 52 nationally). That stat may be somewhat misleading because they're usually so far ahead on the scoreboard teams have to throw.
Tiger Stadium (a.k.a. "Death Valley") at night is one of the nation's greatest college football venues.
Trask was there in '16, but as a true freshman with no chance of getting on the field. This time, he'll go as the starting quarterback of an offense averaging 424.3 yards per game.
"I've seen how crazy it can get," he said. "Obviously, it's a lot tougher to communicate with a bunch of people screaming at you, but it's nothing that's not possible and it's something that we're ready to lock in on and make sure we're sharp for this weekend."
He's done OK so far in throwing for 881 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions. Trask also has completed 72.2 percent of his passes, which ranks 10th in the nation.
A distant 10th to LSU's Joe Burrow, that is.
Burrow is the SEC's runaway passing leader — and an early Heisman Trophy candidate — having completed 78.4 percent of his throws for 1,894 yards, 22 touchdowns and just three interceptions. Likewise, the Tigers, lead the league in offense at 571.0 yards per game, and the nation in scoring at 54.6 points per game. The program has gotten a jolt from the hiring of passing game coordinator Joe Brady, by way of the New Orleans Saints (see Brees, Drew).
Mullen gave the LSU offense its due, but offered a caveat.
"We have some good players too, you know," he said.
The Tigers, with that aerial attack that features three receivers with at least 300 yards and six touchdowns (led by Justin Jefferson's 30 catches, 547 yards, 7 TDs) loom as an even bigger test for the Gators than an Auburn offense that came to town with a reputation for steam-rolling defenses on the ground.
UF stymied that ground game, and now will turn its attention to LSU's vaunted passing game.
Could be a "DBU" kind of game.
"It doesn't change our planning. We're going to prepare how we always do," said junior safety Donovan Stiner, who had a huge second-half end zone interception to thwart an Auburn drive. "We see it as another challenge that we have to face this week and I feel like we're all looking forward and we're all excited about it."
One way Trask can help his defense is by not giving LSU any bonus possessions, like he did in fumbling three times against Auburn. The plays weren't entirely his fault, of course, as several times the flood gates in front of him opened and an elite defensive line was allowed to tee off on the Florida QB.
The noise in Baton Rouge will be deafening, but Trask still has to hear that clock in his head telling him to get rid of the ball before contact.
"I cannot hold onto it too long," Trask said.
He certainly doesn't want to risk a similar situation — and scare — like the one he had against Auburn. Trask took a shot to the knee that looked awfully bad at the time and forced him out of the game, only to return a tad gimpy but able to finish.
The knee, Trask said, was feeling better Monday than Sunday, which bodes well for the rest of the week. UF was back at nearly full strength against Auburn, with the return of cornerback CJ Henderson, safety Shawn Davis, Swain — each of whom had big-time moments during the game — and several others. Defensive end Jabari Zuniga (ankle) was cleared to play that game, but was held out because the training staff and coaches didn't believe he was 100 percent. He's expected to be this week.
And they'll need him.
They'll need everybody, plus all the poise the Gators can muster in what will be a deafening din and (again) the best atmosphere in all of the college football.
"We were the biggest game in the country last week," Mullen said. "We're the biggest game in the country this week."
