Quarterback Kyle Trask is hoisted into the air by offensive tackle Stone Forsythe after the UF backup, on in relief of injured starter Feleipe Franks, scored the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter Saturday against Kentucky.
Franks Injured, Trask to Rescue in 4th-Quarter Kentucky Comeback
Sunday, September 15, 2019 | Football, Chris Harry
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Just glancing at the final score without knowing any details, college football fans likely would assume that order was restored in the Florida-Kentucky series Saturday night.
But there was nothing orderly (or ordinary, for that matter) with how the eighth-ranked Gators beat the Wildcats.
Or which Gators were needed to do so.
Backup quarterback Kyle Trask, pressed into emergency duty after a grisly ankle injury to starter Feleipe Franks, led a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns drives, capping the second with a go-ahead 4-yard scoring run, as UF rallied from down double-digits to a 29-21 victory in front of a sellout crowd at Kroger Field in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams. The lead was just 22-21 inside a minute, with UK's defense calling timeouts and trying to force a late punt, when UF wide receiver Josh Hammond took a jet sweep 76 yards for a touchdown to seal the outcome and give the Gators (3-0, 1-0) their 32nd win in the series' last 33 meetings and help heal any residual hurt from the Wildcats' streak-busting upset a year ago in Gainesville.
Josh Hammond (10) finishes his 76-yard, put-away touchdown run in the final minute against the Wildcats. (Photos: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
"We found a way to win and we didn't do that last year," Florida coach Dan Mullen said. "When dealing with adversity, we found a way to win."
For Franks, the UF starter for the last 18 games dating to the 2017 season, his 2019 season ended in grisly fashion late in the third quarter when a failed fourth-and-1 pass play ended with the fourth-year junior being hit, with his back bending awkwardly backward and his feet grounded beneath a scrum of bodies. Trainers sprinted on the field immediately and within minutes the entire UF team surrounded their teammate before he was carted away. Franks had hit 12 of 17 passes for 174 yards a touchdown and an interception to that point.
The Gators trailed 21-10.
"He was just devastated," Hammond said of Franks. "That's when guys spoke up. 'Time to go! Time to make some plays and win this ballgame for Feleipe!' We all know how hard he works and how much he means to the team."
As the players began filing back to the sideline, Trask remained at Franks' side for just a couple more seconds.
"He was obviously really emotional in that moment," said Trask, whose college football résumé over four seasons coming in was made up of just five mop-up appearances and 29 pass attempts. "I just let him know, 'I got your back.' It's a next-man-up mentality. I had to do whatever it took for the team."
This was what the 6-foot-5, 239-pound fourth-year junior from Manvel, Texas, did: nine completions in 13 attempts and fourth-quarter touchdown drives of 62, 66 and 80 yards, as Florida tallied the last 19 points of the game.
"Kyle is a guy who's always prepared," Hammond said. "We knew he was going to come in and make those plays."
Just as importantly, though, were a couple negative plays the Wildcats (2-1, 0-1) made. Like an ill-advised throw up the sideline from quarterback Sawyer Smith (23 of 35, 267 yards, 2 TDs, 3 interception) that became the second interception of the game for junior safety Shawn Davis and set up the go-ahead drive. Like a targeting penalty on that ensuing UF drive that got a second UK defensive back ejected from the game. Like the missed 35-yard field goal by Chance Poore with 35 seconds left that likely would have given Kentucky the win.
"I tell our players there's an awful lot of plays in the game and you never know which play is going to decide the outcome," Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said. "There were a bunch in there that will jump out at us."
That goes for the Gators, as well.
Franks threw an interception on the first possession of the game, but Smith returned the favor with a fumble that eventually helped UF take a 7-0 lead on a Franks-to-Freddie Swain touchdown pass of 15 yards with just over six minutes to go in the period.
From then on, it was basically all Kentucky for the next 2 1/2 quarters, with the Wildcats scoring 21 of the game's next 24 points. Florida didn't help itself with two turnovers, a couple touchdowns called back on holding penalties and a missed chip-shot field goal of 27 yards. Then came the Franks injury. It happened on a fourth-and-1 from the UK 39 with just over three minutes to play in the third.
Mullen called for play-action and was looking to hit something deep. Franks, with no one open, was under pressure and in trying to reach the line to gain was crushed by linebacker Kash Daniel, his body contorting in a gruesome manner and leg getting mangled in the pile.
"It's a tragedy," Mullen said.
Feleipe Franks exits Kroger Field via cart after his season-ending leg injury late in the third quarter.
After the solemn and sad scene played out, though, football had to resume. Mullen told both his backup quarterbacks, Trask and redshirt freshman Emory Jones, to get ready, as Kentucky took over at its 38 with a chance to put the game away with another touchdown. That was where it was Florida's turn to bow up on defense, with senior linebacker David Reese II stopping tailback Asim Rose for no gain on a fourth-and-one from the UF 38 on the final play of the fourth quarter.
At that point, the Wildcats had 326 yards of total offense to the Gators' 216.
And that's when Mullen went to Trask.
"He prepares three starters, that's his thing," Trask said of his coach's work with QBs. "So I was expected to go out there and produce, expected to go out there and win the game."
So, of course, Trask hit his first four passes — for 8, 14, 20 and 12 yards, three of them going to wideout Van Jefferson — to reach the UK 8. From there, an option play appeared to go awry when Trask was wrapped by a Cats defender, but the quarterback managed under duress to shovel the ball back to tailback Lamical Perine, who scooted in for an 8-yard touchdown that made the score 21-16 with 12:21 to play.
"That was definitely improvisation," Trask said. A pass on a two-point attempt fell incomplete.
The two teams swapped punts the next two possessions, with UF's Tommy Townsend's 44-yarder dying at the UK 8. After a first down, Smith threw his second interception to Davis, who spiked the ball and got a 15-yard penalty, pushing the UF starting spot to the Kentucky 34, but igniting his bench.
"I knew we had to just keep fighting for him," Davis said, invoking his fallen quarterback as motivation. "That's something Feleipe would've wanted us to do."
Pass interference and personal fouls got the Gators into UK territory, but it was a 30-yard completion to tight end Kyle Pitts that got the ball to the Kentucky 6. Two plays later, Trask scored untouched up the gut on a quarterback keeper for a 22-21 lead. Again, a two-point conversion try failed.
So all the Cats needed was a field goal for the lead. A nine-play, 58-yard drive — aided by a pass interference against UF cornerback Marco Wilson — had them set up for one, too. Poore, a redshirt freshman, came into the game just 4-for-7 for his career, and left 4-for-8 when he pushed his 35-yard attempt about two feet to the right.
Kentucky still had three timeouts to stop the clock and did so to put the Gators in a third-and-6 situation with 44 seconds left.
Hammond, motion from the left, took a handoff around right end, up the sideline and to the house on the next play.
"We find a way to win no matter what happens," said Swain, after the Gators outgained the Cats 222 to 81 in fourth-quarter yards. "We never get down on each other, we try to lift each other up, when we need plays everybody makes plays, and we come out victorious."
Quarterback Feleipe Franks, on crutches, is greeted by tights Kyle Pitts (left) and Lucas Krull (right) in the victorious postgame locker room.
But also beaten up. In addition to Franks, who will miss the rest of the season, the Gators also lost defensive end Jabari Zuniga early in the game to a sprained ankle. His status will be evaluated in the coming day as UF -- expected still to be without flanker Kadarius Toney (shoulder) and cornerback CJ Henderson (ankle), both injured last week against UT Martin — prepares for three straight homes games, starting next week against Tennessee.
"We've had a couple of tough games and we've been in season five weeks and we've played one game in the Swamp, and we've been in tough environments against good football teams and found ways to win," Mullen said. "I think you can build a lot off of that."
