The No. 3 Florida Gators rolled to a 38-24 win over stubborn South Carolina on Saturday and it was ever-apparent in the second win of the season that the offense can efficiently convert when it has to.
Quarterback Kyle Trask to tight end Kyle Pitts has become the most prolific passing combination in the nation in two short weeks. Trask has already thrown 10 touchdown passes, while Pitts has been on the receiving end of six of those.
Trask completed 21 of 29 passes for 268 yards and found Pitts for touchdown tosses of 13 and 4 yards in the first half, giving the Gators a 24-14 advantage at the break.
“With the capability and potential of our offense, the playmakers that we have, we expected to score every single time we have the ball,” said Trask. “We should’ve scored more.”
Trask has 684 passing yards in his first two games and was just 22 yards short of the Gators record for the first two games which was set in 2001 with 706 yards when quarterback Rex Grossman was the Heisman Trophy runner-up.
Meanwhile, Pitts is everything that Florida coach Dan Mullen can use as a possession receiver, a deep threat, and even a decoy as he doesn’t take plays off and he focuses on the upcoming play which allows all of the parts to sum up the whole.
“I would just say it’s fun every week going out there knowing he (Trask) trusts me and I trust him. He’ll put the ball there and Coach Mullen makes great play calls in order for me to get into the end zone,” explained Pitts.
Pitts’ dynamics open up other options in the passing game as redshirt-freshman Trent Whittemore caught the first touchdown pass of his career on a 4-yard toss from Trask that gave the Gators a 31-14 lead midway through the third quarter.
“It’s crazy to go out there on every passing play and think, ‘Hey, I got a shot on this play to catch the ball and take it,’ just because you have so many weapons around you that you may get the one-on-one matchup this play,” said Whittemore.
Whittemore had a 26-yard reception earlier in the game out of his slot position. Pitts is looking at Whittemore as a break out player as he started his career in Week One with three catches for 26 yards in the 51-35 win at Ole Miss.
“I feel like he’s the sleeper of the team this year,” explained Pitts. “He’s going to sneak in there; he’s going to get his five receptions maybe, and he’s going to surprise a lot.”
The Gators head to Aggieland for a noon EST kickoff against a Texas A&M team that is smarting in coming off a 52-24 beatdown at the hands of No. 2 Alabama.
The Aggies’ defense was destroyed by the Crimson Tide which rolled up 544 total yards, 435 through the air, and scored on seven of 10 possessions.
Now Jimbo Fisher’s group faces a Florida offense that is rated second nationally at 7.8 yards per play while rolling up 44.5 points per game, No. 8 nationally, in the first two outings.
It will be only the third SEC meeting between the two schools. The Aggies won the last one, 19-17, in Gainesville, while the Gators picked up a 20-17 at A&M in 2012.