1. Kyle Pitts is the best tight end in the country
Kyle Pitts had a very good sophomore campaign. He finished third nationally among all tight ends in receptions while leading the Gators in the same category. He scored five touchdowns and generally grew into the position after working mostly as a receiver during his freshman campaign.
Saturday Pitts showed that he isn’t just the best tight end on his team, or in the state, or even in the conference. He’s the best tight end in the country, heck, he may be good enough to play on Sunday right now.
Pitts hauled in a team-high eight passes for 170 yards and four touchdowns. Those are video game numbers and Pitts is a created player.
“He’s a matchup nightmare for defenses,” quarterback Kyle Trask said. “He’s too big for corners and too fast for linebackers, so he gives defenses a lot of trouble.”
Pitts is a better man than me, I would have opted out of the 2020 season after my third touchdown catch of the day and hired an agent before taking my pads off. Pitts is a special player and he’s going to be a whole lot of fun to watch this year. It will also be a complete shock if he doesn’t bring home the Mackey Award.
2. Kyle Trask can sling it
Pitts can’t throw the ball to himself but he has a great guy that had no problem getting the ball to 11 different receivers.
Kyle Trask had a day on Saturday. The redshirt senior threw for a career-high six touchdowns and a career-high 416 yards. He completed passed to 11 different players while showing poise in the pocket and more mobility than he did in 2018. You should have gotten your Kyle Trask Heisman bets in before Saturday because the price of that ticket just skyrocketed.
3. This is the most complete Kadarius Toney has looked.
Kadarius Toney has been an enigma in the last three seasons. He’s one part razzle, two parts dazzle, and equally as frustrating while running east and west 40 yards to get a three-yard gain. During the 2018 season, Mullen would exasperatedly say you never know what’s going to happen when Toney has the ball in his hand, for better or worse. The coaching staff just didn’t trust him.
That’s changed now. Toney not only had a great offensive day but he also showed tremendous judgment returning punts and kicks. When he needed to call a fair catch, he did just that, on both kickoffs and punts. He returned two kicks for 40 yards but his biggest head-turning performance was offensively. Toney had two rushes for 55-yards, including a huge 50-yard scamper than set up a touchdown. He also caught five passes for 59 yards and, even though he’s still going to shake and bake — it’s who he is — he did a better job of getting north and south.
Dan Mullen lauded Toney for becoming a more complete route runner and player and that was on display Saturday. The staff showed their trust in Toney’s snap count. He was on the field for 36 offensive snaps Saturday, a career-high.
This was the best Kadarius Toney has looked in four years in Gainesville.
4. Brenton Cox is as good as advertised
Former five-star defensive end, shoot, give him 20 stars. Brenton Cox was described to me by people in Florida’s program as a “beast,” “the real deal,” and a “monster.” They weren’t lying.
Cox had eight tackles (4 solo), 2.5 tackles for a loss, a sack, and he tipped a pass that ended up in the arms of freshman defensive tackle Gervon Dexter. Cox is going to be a problem for opposing offensive lines. He’s a terror of the edge and plays with a really high motor.
5. Third down defense was atrocious
This was not a banner day for the Gators’ defense. To be fair, I think Ole Miss will hang 30 points on a lot of teams. Lane Kiffin is a very good offensive coach, Matt Corral is a good quarterback, and the Rebels have a lot of talent at running back and receiver.
With that caveat out of the way, this was not an acceptable performance for a defense that prides itself on being “DBU.” Florida gave up 443 passing yards — the most a Gator defense has allowed since Alabama threw for 449 yards in 2014.
Dan Mullen wrote some of it off on not having played a game or even being able to tackle more than in two scrimmages since the Orange Bowl, and there’s some truth to that for sure. Florida needs to be better defensively and there’s no way around it.
The Gators allowed Ole Miss to convert on 9-of-14 (64%) third downs and gave up 613 yards — the most since, you guessed it, Lane Kiffin’s Alabama offense posted 672 against Florida in 2014.
ONE EXTRA: So happy SEC football is back
The first two weeks of college football were like when your significant other told you not to eat a snack before going to a dinner party. But when the houre d’oeuvres came out it was steamed broccoli. Did you eat it, sure, you were hungry. Did you enjoy it? No.
The SEC is the best football conference in the land and it isn’t close. Watching Florida vs. Ole Miss and Kentucky vs. Auburn proved that. I’m just happy we have big boy football back.