Florida's offense operated in high gear for most of Saturday night's game against the University of Arkansas, but the Razorbacks did become the first team this season to stop the Gators from scoring after they had the ball inside the opponent's 20.
Florida had been perfect on 26 red-zone possessions -- 20 touchdowns, including the first drive against Arkansas, and 6 field goals -- before the Razorbacks held on fourth and 1 from their 16.
The Gators failed to convert when Kyle Trask's pass intended for Malik Davis fell incomplete. Defensive linemen Zach Williams and Xavier Kelly were credited with quarterback hurries on the play.
A long one
Trelon Smith's 83-yard touchdown run in the second quarter was the longest by a Razorback since Rakeem Boyd's 86-yarder against Western Kentucky in Arkansas' 45-19 loss to the Hilltoppers last season.
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It was the second-longest touchdown run ever for Arkansas in an SEC game, surpassed only by Joe Adams' 92-yarder against Auburn in 2011 when the Razorbacks beat the Tigers 38-14.
Halftime tweet
Florida freshman quarterback Anthony Richardson posted a tweet about teammate Kyle Trask at halftime when the Gators' starter had completed 18 of 22 passes for 285 yards and 5 touchdowns.
"Aye I'm not supposed to be on my phone but somebody tell them to give Kyle the heisman trophy already!" Richardson tweeted.
Trask extended his SEC record streak of having at least four passing touchdowns in a game to all six this season. He's the first Gator to throw five touchdown passes in the first half since Feleipe Franks did it against Charleston Southern in the 2018 season opener Florida won 53-6.
Interim twist
Defensive coordinator Barry Odom became the fifth interim head coach for Arkansas since the Razorbacks joined the SEC for the 1992 season.
Odom handled head coaching duties against Florida with Sam Pittman unable to travel with the Razorbacks after he tested positive for covid-19.
The twist to Odom's interim duties is that he was the first coach to replace someone who still has the job. Arkansas' previous four interim coaches in the SEC replaced men who either were fired or resigned.
After Jack Crowe was fired as a result of The Citadel's 10-3 victory over the Razorbacks in 1992 in Arkansas' first game as an SEC member, defensive coordinator Joe Kines became interim coach for the final 10 games of what became a 3-7-1 season.
Defensive coordinator Reggie Herring was Arkansas' interim coach in the Jan. 1, 2008, Cotton Bowl -- a 38-7 loss to Missouri -- after Houston Nutt resigned under pressure.
John L. Smith went 4-8 as interim coach in 2012 after Bobby Petrino was fired the previous spring for off-the-field issues.
After Chad Morris was fired with two games remaining last season, Barry Lunney Jr. -- the special teams coordinator and tight ends coach -- was interim coach for the final two games.
Roster moves
Florida played without star tight end Kyle Pitts, who suffered a concussion on a hard hit from Georgia safety Lewis Cine last week. Pitts has 414 receiving yards and leads all FBS tight ends with eight touchdowns.
The Razorbacks had a handful of regulars who are normally on the travel roster out against the Gators.
Offensive linemen Noah Gatlin and Beaux Limmer, who have combined for nine starts on the right side, did not travel.
Additionally, senior linebacker Deon Edwards and freshman running back Dominique Johnson were not on the travel roster.
For starters
Junior Myles Mason made his second start of the season at safety with the Razorbacks going with six defensive backs and three linemen on defense. Mason also started against Ole Miss.
Senior tight Blake Kern made his third start of the season and first since the Auburn game.
Junior Dalton Wagner made his second consecutive start at right tackle in place of Noah Gatlin, who wasn't dressed out. Ty Clary started his third game at right guard, and Dalton Wagner started his second consecutive game at right tackle.
On the left side of the line, senior tackle Myron Cunningham and redshirt freshman guard Brady Latham have started every game. Sophomore Ricky Stromberg has started six of seven games at center.
'GameDay' segment
Quarterback Feleipe Franks was the subject of a short segment on ESPN's "GameDay" telecast from The Masters on Saturday morning.
The piece focused on Franks' reason for choosing Arkansas as his destination as a grad transfer after leaving Florida last winter.
"I loved Coach [Sam] Pittman, just how genuine he was as a person," Franks told Maria Taylor on a video conference this week. "How you see him on TV and in press conferences and all that, it's the same guy you see in the locker room. I just saw a great opportunity, and I'm glad and I love that I chose Arkansas."
Taylor asked Franks whether he had a message he wanted to send to his former teammates at Florida.
"Best friends over the years," he said. "Still best friends. I talk to a bunch of them still to this day. At the end of the day, it's all love. But the goal remains the same. We want to go out there and beat you guys. That's it."
Ginger travels
Ginger Franks, the mother of Arkansas quarterback Feleipe Franks, kept alive her streak of attending every Arkansas game this season.
This was the easy one. Franks lives in Tallahassee, Fla., about 150 miles away from the Florida campus in Gainesville.
She has either driven or flown to every other game, including a couple of long drives to Fayetteville.
"Everybody laughs at me, but I enjoy driving to be honest with you," Franks said. "The first game my older son [Jordan] had gone from the Bengals to the Eagles. So I drove from here up to Philadelphia, flew over to Fayetteville, then drove back to Tallahassee in one weekend."
Franks said she listens to her play list and enjoys looking at the scenery on her long drives.
Good starts
Arkansas scored touchdowns on offense to open each half for the first time this season.
The Razorbacks scored on Feleipe Franks' 49-yard pass to Mike Woods on their first possession of the game. Rakeem Boyd scored on a 12-yard run on their first possession of the second half.
Arkansas has scored to open the second half in six of seven games. The exception was against Ole Miss, when the Razorbacks punted on their first possession of the second half.
Florida streak
The Gators drove 75 yards for a touchdown on their opening drive to extend their NCAA record scoring steak to 404 games.
Florida broke the previous record of 365 games by Michigan from 1984-2014. Auburn beat Florida 16-0 on Oct. 29, 1988, in the last game in which the Gators were shut out.
Long ride
Arkansas' radio broadcast crew has been riding on a bus to road games rather than flying on the team chartered airplane.
Only players, coaches and essential staff are flying on the charter as a precaution against covid-19.
The radio crew previously had some long drives to Starkville, Miss., Auburn, Ala., and College Station, Texas, but the ride to Gainesville, Fla., was by far the longest of the season.
Matt Zimmerman, the color analyst on Arkansas' basketball broadcasts and who serves as a spotter at football games for play-by-play voice Chuck Barrett, said it was a 19-hour trip to Gainesville, including a couple of stops.
The crew will leave shortly after the game, and Zimmerman said they hoped to shorten the drive back home to 17 hours.
'I'm fine, guys'
Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman, who is quarantining at home because he tested positive for covid-19, did an interview on the UA pregame radio show with Chuck Barrett.
"I'm fine, guys," Pittman said at the end of the interview. "I'm looking forward to being back Wednesday."
Pittman should be cleared to return Wednesday to work at the football building.
Flag bearers
Senior guard Ty Clary and sophomore linebacker Andrew Parker carried the Arkansas flag and United States flag, respectively, when the Razorbacks ran onto the field.
Just in time
The telecast of the Arkansas-Florida game started on ESPN News because the Colorado-Stanford game wasn't quite finished on ESPN.
But Colorado's 35-32 victory finished in time so that the only play of the Arkansas-Florida game that wasn't shown on ESPN was the opening kickoff.
The game switched to ESPN for the game's first snap by the Gators.
