GAINESVILLE, Fla. — With just under six minutes to go in the opening period, Tennessee had the ball on the Florida 6-yard line, down seven points, but threatening to tie the game. On third-and-goal, quarterback Jarrett Guarantano tossed a pass across the goal-line to slanting wide receiver Jauan Jennings, arguably the Volunteers' best player. 

The ball went through Jennings' hands and into the diving arms of UF defensive back Trey Dean for an interception. 

The play pretty much summed up this miserable season for Vols to date. 

And the game Saturday afternoon in the "Swamp."

Florida quarterback Kyle Trask, making his first career start, passed for 293 yards and a couple touchdowns, but also turned the ball over three times, including a pair of interceptions in the third quarter. No matter. By that time, the Florida defense had set the tone on the way to limiting the Vols to just 239 yards and forcing four turnovers in a 34-3 win at Spurrier/Florida Field that marked UF's 14th win in the series' last 15 meetings and the largest margin of victory for the eighth-ranked Gators (4-0, 2-0) against their Southeastern Conference East Division rival since 2007. 
 
"It was a really good win for us," said UF coach Dan Mullen, who has guided the program to eight straight wins spanning the last two seasons. "There are still some things we need to clean up. We're still a little sloppy in certain areas." 

But still unbeaten, with a game next week against FCS-classified Towson. After that, the stuff, to paraphrase, gets real around here, with an October conga line of Auburn (currently ranked 8th), at LSU (4th), at South Carolina, and against Georgia (No. 3) in Jacksonville. 

"We're in SEC play now," junior cornerback Marco Wilson said. "Every win is huge." 

Especially when breaking in a new starting quarterback. Not that Trask didn't get an indoctrination during his relief efforts for the Gators a week earlier in the fourth-quarter comeback win at Kentucky. The 6-foot-5, 239-pounder was called to duty after the season-ending dislocated ankle suffered by Feleipe Franks, a starter for 18 straight games. This time, though, Trask had the whole week to contemplate his situation — and first start since he was a high-school freshman on the junior varsity team — in the run-up to the Gators' home opener. 

"Completely different environment, to say the least," Trask said. "It's been a while since I had a start, but I was prepared. The coaches do a great job of preparing us for every game, and I'm really proud with how our team played. We're 4-0. That's huge. On to the next one."

Trask guided a Florida offense that amassed 441 yards by completing 20 of his 28 throws, including touchdown strikes of 19 yards to tight end Kyle Pitts on the first series of the game, plus a 29-yarder to wideout Freddie Swain midway though the third period that put the Gators in front 24-3.

When he was done midway through the fourth quarter, Trask had completed passes to 10 different receivers and needed just one game to eclipse Franks' career-best day (in 24 starts) of 284 yards last season at Vanderbilt. 

"The kid played good last week and played good today," Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt said. 

"He was phenomenal. He came out, executed and did what he needed to do," junior wideout Trevon Grimes said of new QB. "It's an honor to be able to go out there and say, 'That's my quarterback,' because he's been through so much. It's like a movie."

Movies have subplots. So did this game, as in two picks by Trask in the third quarter — both on throws into double coverage — that prevented the game from becoming even more one-sided. The UF defense, though, erased any threat the Vols (1-3, 0-1) might make things remotely interesting. 
 
The Gators, led by a monster effort from linebacker Jonathan Greenard (4 tackles, 3 for loss, 3 passes defensed, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble), only had one sack, but pressured Guarantano and backup quarterback Brian Maurer most of the day, as the two combined to complete just 14 of 28 passes for 151 yards and three interceptions. The Vols rushed 27 times for 88 yards and managed only 12 first downs. 

"We are only scratching the surface of what we can do," Greenard said. "I'm excited about where we are right now. We're somewhat early in the season, kind of midway, but we have a lot of great things to work on still, and that was our best performance so far."

The offense, though, got things going. 

On the second snap of the game, Trask dropped and had all day to survey the secondary. He heaved a ball high and deep into a brisk head wind, with wideout Josh Hammond coming back for the ball and a 43-yard gain. Three plays later, Trask fired a slant pass to tight end Pitts, who knifed through a couple UT defenders and into the end zone for a 7-0 lead less than three minutes into the game.  

"We wanted to start fast," Trask said. 

After the Florida defense forced a punt, the Gators did their best to give the ball back to the Vols. First, tailback Malik Davis fumbled on a pitch to the wide left side, but officials ruled defensive back Warren Burrell stepped out of bounds before the recovery. Deadball, back to the Gators. Two plays later, Trask was sacked by blitzing linebacker Daniel Bituli and fumbled, with Tennessee recovering at the UF 19. 

The Vols moved to a first down at the Florida 8. A run of two yards and batted pass by the blitzing Greenard set up a third-and-goal from the 6. Guarantano hit Jennings in the mitts, but the ball caromed off the wideout with 100 career catches and into the hands of Dean for the pick and touchback. 

"We beat ourselves," UT senior center Brandon Kennedy said. "A lot of the mistakes we made were on us."

Early in the second quarter, the Vols had two horrific offensive plays. The first came when the Gators' secondary blew a coverage that left Dominik Wood-Anderson wide open 15 yards behind the defense. Guarantano, though, badly airmailed the pass over his receiver, costing UT a long gainer, maybe even a 78-yard touchdown. Five plays later, on third and 7, Guarantano and Marquez Callaway got crossed up on a route. Callaway went deeper than Guarantano's throw, which hit UF cornerback Marco Wilson in the chest for the interception. 

The turnover led to a 22-yard field goal by Evan McPherson and 10-0 lead for Florida at the 10:02 of the second period. 
 
The score stayed there until the final play of the half, when the Gators marched 60 yards in eight plays to the Tennessee 1 where they faced a fourth-and-goal. Mullen let the clock wind down to just two seconds before calling a timeout. Out of the stoppage, UF sent its offense back on the field for what became a 1-yard off-tackle run by Lamical Perine and 17-0 lead for the home team at the break.

"We put it on the [offensive line]," Mullen said of the gamble. "We told them, 'You guys are gonna get us an inch.' " 

Maurer, a true freshman, replaced Guarantano to start the second half and drove the Vols to a 40-yard field goal by Brent Cimaglia for UT's only points, but UF answered with a six-play, 75-yard drive, as Trask threw a gorgeous 29-yard strike over the top of the secondary for a touchdown to Swain. 

After that, the Florida defense negated both Trask interceptions — both in UT territory; one an end-zone throw and touchback — by forcing a punt after the first, then a forcing and recovering fumble after the second.  

Sophomore tailback Dameon Pierce added a 10-yard touchdown run inside 12 minutes left and McPherson kicked a 37-yard field goal with 2:21 remaining to wrap the scoring, while Tennessee had just 31 yards in the final quarter. 

The Big Orange hole Tennessee is digging (which started against Georgia State) keeps getting deeper. 

Such is not the case with the guys in orange and blue. 

"The good thing about being 4-0 is you have a chance to go 5-0," Mullen said. "We'll enjoy this win [Saturday night], especially. Last week, we got home at 4 o'clock and this week, hopefully, at 4 o'clock — just P.M. instead of A.M. I'll get ready to roll and get in bright and early and ready for Towson [Sunday]."