Sunday, 4 a.m.
As a piece of hardware, it has been scoffed at, dismissed, ignored. The Heisman Trophy is often not about excellence, and it's list of mediocre wins is long and storied.
Nevertheless, Kyle Trask moved a step closer toward being in contention Saturday afternoon.
Trask, a backup who didn't even start in high school, had his eighth game with a least three touchdowns Saturday in a 34-10 victory over Kentucky. Trask, who has had one of the finest seasons statistically in the country, led the Gators to take over in the second half.
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Trask now has 34 touchdown passes on the season, behind only former Heisman winner Danny Wuerffel (who had 39 in 1996 and 35 in 1995). Rex Grossman also had 34 in 2001.
Ah, but Trask still has two more games to go (Tennessee and LSU).
Florida coach Dan Mullen said he hasn't thought about being on the cusp of getting to Atlanta, "You can get to a point where wins become expected or assumed, I want to enjoy them."
Tight end Kyle Pitts, who has had a concussion and a broken nose, returned to the Gators' lineup. Pitts caught five passes for 99 yards and three touchdowns.
During the first half, Mullen and defensive coordinator Todd Grantham exchanged words.
"I think you get after it just having different discussions, competitive people," Mullen said. "I think you look at the job they did, came in at halftime and looked how Kentucky was trying to attack us.We came in and really kind of shut them down early. We were able to get a lead and then that gets Kentucky out of their whole game plan of trying to really slow everyone down and milk the clock.
"This game is so much about adjustments. Teams are going to come in with some different wrinkles and different changes and do different things each week. I think our guys came in, made a great adjustment. I think they were probably a little disappointed with how they played in that first half."
The Gators visit Tennessee Saturday.