KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Championships are to be celebrated and the sixth-ranked Florida Gators vowed to enjoy their latest after clinching a piece of the Southeastern Conference East Division by beating Tennessee 31-19 Saturday at Neyland Stadium. 

The Gators, though, have designs on championships far more significant than a division title and don't mind saying so. 

Quarterback Kyle Trask: "That was one of our main goals at the beginning of this season, because in order to do all of the bigger things, you first have to win the East." 

All those "bigger things" remain out there, thanks to a sixth straight win and another big passing game from Trask, who with each week — and each touchdown toss — inches closer to a Heisman Trophy. Trask passed for 433 yards and four touchdowns without an interception, running his season total of scoring tosses to 38. That is one shy of the single-season school record set by Danny Wuerffel, who in 1996 won the SEC East, the SEC title, the Heisman and, finally, the national championship. Wuerffel and his teammates celebrated the milestones along the way, but never lost sight of their ultimate prize. 

These Gators won't, either. 

"I think our guys are really excited," Dan Mullen said after becoming the fourth UF coach to win a divisional title, joining Steve Spurrier (7), Urban Meyer (3) and Jim McElwain (2). "This is what we worked for, this opportunity to go win the East. But I think our guys are also very driven. We're going to enjoy this win, but I think our guys also know they're going to get ready to get back to work next week and get better. The goal is to win the East, because that's what we can control coming into the season. You go to our guys, they want to accomplish an awful a lot more than that, but that's all we can control coming into a season. We were able to do that. Now, we have the opportunity to control being SEC champions." 

Florida (8-1, 8-1) will face No. 1 Alabama (8-0, 8-0) in the SEC title game Dec. 19 at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The Crimson Tide were well on track to remain unbeaten Saturday night by pounding reigning national champion LSU in Baton Rouge, La. That would be the same LSU team that Florida will face at home in the regular-season finale next Saturday when the Gators can lay claim to the division all to themselves. 

"We have a lot of football left and we're looking forward to it," senior wideout Trevon Grimes said after snaring a pair of touchdowns from Trask. "Like Coach Mullen said, 'Cheers to this victory, but we need to get back to work,' and we're going to get back to work and go do what we have to do."  UF used a run of 28 consecutive points, including touchdown drives to end the first half and start the second, to build a 31-7 lead in the fourth quarter against a UT team that came into the game ranked 106th in total offense and tied for 109th in scoring. The Vols did manage a couple late touchdowns, but mostly against a defense sprinkled with backups. Of their 334 yards of offense, 190 came on the final two drives. 

Florida, meanwhile, totaled 452 yards of offense, but only 19 rushing on 17 carries. In fact, UF's trio of tailbacks — Dameon Pierce, Malik Davis and Nay'Quan Wright — combined to carry the ball eight times for six yards, with a long gain of four. Thank goodness for a couple runs by sophomore wideout Jacob Copeland (17 on an end-around toss) and do-everything wingback Kadarius Toney (one carry, seven yards), else the Gators running game might have been in the red.

That left everything — literally, everything — to Trask, who completed 35 of 49 attempts (and also had a pooch punt of 32 yards in the fourth quarter) with his scoring throws to Grimes (6 catches, 55 yards), plus one each to Toney (8 catches, 108 yards) and Copeland (3 catches, 57 yards). Super tight end Kyle Pitts did a lot of work between the end zones, with seven receptions for 128 yards.  

"It felt like they threw on every snap," Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt said of the Gators.

They pretty much did. Pretty much because they had to.

"Great teams find a way to win even when they're not playing the cleanest," Trask said. "That's what we've been able to do all season." 

Tennessee started true freshman Harrison Bailey at quarterback while Jarrett Guarantano, a starter the better part of the last four seasons, was held out due to pandemic protocol. Bailey had a decent beginning to his day, leading the Vols on a 96-yard drive and 7-3 lead, before order was restored in a series now dominated by Florida, winner of four straight and 15 of 16, dating to 2005. 

Bailey went 14 of 21 for 111 yards and a touchdown before being hooked for sophomore J.T. Shrout, who was 12-for-14 for 121 yards, including a scoring toss with 27 seconds left. 

UF went up 3-0 its first series, going 63 yards in 10 plays before settling for a 30-yard field goal from sophomore Evan McPherson with a little more than nine minutes to go in the first period.

On their second possession, the Gators reached the UT 41, but opted to punt and pinned the Volunteers at their 4. From there, Bailey showed remarkable poise in taking his offense on a 96-yard march, starting with a third-and-8 completion, thrown from his end zone, to Velus Jones IV for 19 yards. A roughing-the-quarterback penalty against Andrew Chatfield Jr. gave the Vols a free 15 yards, Bailey had a 15-yard scramble and, eventually, tossed a swing pass to his left that wideout Eric Gray took untouched into the end zone for a 7-3 lead five minutes into the second period. 

The lengthy spell on the sideline apparently was good for Trask. He was 5-for-6 for 64 yards on the ensuing series, with completions of 15 yards to Pitts and 20 to Toney, ending with a quick screen to the left that Grimes caught and scored from four yards out halfway through the quarter. 

Tennessee followed with a three-and-out, only to compound it by a failed fake punt when Paxton Brooks took the snap, feigned his kicking motion, then rolled to right and fired a perfect throw for gunner Jimmy Holiday, who dropped the pass with Malik Davis closing in coverage. That gave the Gators a first down at the Tennessee 30, but Florida could not take advantage when Trask was sacked on third-and-10 and McPherson was wide right on 53-yard field goal.  Whatever frustration the visitors were dealing with subsided some with a terrific TD drive just before the half. 

UF started at its 20 and converted three third downs along the way — a 28-yard completion to Copeland on third-and-11; a 17-yarder on a quick screen to Grimes on third-and-12; a 15-yarder to Pitts on third-and-3 — and then got a pass-interference penalty against defensive back Trevon Flowers, who mugged Copeland in the end zone to put the Gators on the UT 2. 

Trask fired to a double-motioning Toney for his second TD pass with 33 seconds remaining to send the Gators into the locker room with the momentum of a 17-7 lead and knowing they'd get the ball to start the third quarter.

They did. And scored. 

On the second snap of the period, Trask hit Pitts up the left sideline for 42 yards to the Tennessee 25. Copeland's 17-yard run on a wide receiver reverse put the ball at the 8, and on the next play Trask fired his third scoring pass, a second to Grimes to go up 24-7. 

Fourteen points and 155 yards over 4 minutes, 14 seconds spanning the two halves. Given the Vols' season-long offensive woes, the game was pretty much over at that point — and all but guaranteed to be over when Trask fired his fourth scoring pass, the 17-yarder to sophomore Copeland with just over 11 minutes to play for a 31-7 lead.

Throw out that scoring drive (6 plays, 86 yards), however, and the Gators gained eight yards on 14 plays over their other final three possessions. 

"I think they did a great job — Tennessee — throughout the game of giving us some different looks," Trask said. "You know, trying to put more guys on Pitts to shut that down, and we just got to adjust as an offense." 

The Vols added a couple oh-by-the-way TDs in the final quarter, including a 22-yard touchdown throw from Shrout, who replaced Bailey, to Jones Jr. inside the final minute.

"Bailey held onto the ball too long some times," Pruitt said. "But that's what a young guy will do."

Florida had young guys out there, too. Especially at the end. Being outscored 13-0 over the last 5:43 will give the UF coaches something to pick at as they ready to take on the reigning national-champion Tigers, who look nothing like reigning national champions this season. 

The Gators don't care. There's work to do.
 
"We've got to finish it there when we get to the clean-up time at the end of the game. When we start subbing guys in, they've got to come in and slam the door and not give up the two garbage-time touchdowns," Mullen said, before circling back to the bigger picture. "Winning the SEC East this year, the hardest year in the history of this league, when you're going to play 10 regular-season conference games, to win our division is pretty special. It shows a lot of [where] the team is, and [where] the coaches and our whole program is."

And where it's headed. 

Back to Atlanta.