Notebook: Dan Mullen reviews Auburn, looks to LSU

The No. 7 Florida Gators will travel to Baton Rouge for the first time since 2016 to take on the No. 5 LSU Tigers. For the second week in a row and the third time this season ESPN will send College GameDay to cover the game and Florida has an opportunity to really cement itself as one of the best teams in the country.

Injuries
The biggest note is that Kyle Trask (MCL sprain) will be ready to go for the game Saturday. Trask is wearing a compression sleeve and a brace on his left knee but that won’t keep him away from Baton Rouge or the staring lineup.

The Gators came away from the Auburn game healthy. Florida edge rusher Jabari Zuniga hasn’t played since he hurt his ankle on the first drive against Kentucky on September 14.

Zuniga warmed up and was in pads for the first time since the injury last Saturday but didn’t play.

“We didn’t play Zu [Jabari Zuniga]. He was available. He was cleared to play but I don’t think he was 100 percent. Going into the game, our thoughts were, ‘hey, if we cannot play him this week, gives him the opportunity to be 100 percent next week, instead of kind of playing at 80 percent on consecutive, you know, week after week as he was battling,” Mullen said. “I know he wanted to play. He didn’t get into the game, but that’s a good thing for us because we expect him to be 100 percent coming into this game.”

Florida QB situation
When Trask went to the locker room after his injury there weren’t many people in the stands who could have answered the question, who is Emory Jones’ backup? The answer to that is Nick Sproles, a redshirt junior from Winter Park would be the answer. Sproles threw for 2,006 yards his senior season at Winter Park but has only enjoyed mop-up duty at Florida. Trask is healthy but it’s good to know the full depth chart in case of emergency.

Gators the biggest underdog in Mullen’s time at Florida
Not just the last two years but in all six of his years in Gainesville. This is the only time the Gators have been a double-digit underdog with Mullen as a coach in Gainesville.

“Do we get those points before the game starts? Then it doesn’t really have much use for us,” Mullen said. “If they gave us those points before the game started then I would definitely use them. If we walked in and it said Florida 14 LSU 0 I would definitely use that. The rest of it’s irrelevant.”

Tiger Stadium sold out

LSU announced that the game Saturday is officially a sellout. The capacity is 102,321 at Tiger Stadium — the sixth-largest stadium in the country.

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC