Blue Preview: Your one-click guide to the UK football game at No. 6 Florida
Kentucky at No. 6 Florida
When: Noon EST
Where: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (normal capacity at “The Swamp” is 88,548 but crowds are limited to 20 percent in 2020 — around 17,000 — because of the coronavirus).
TV: ESPN (play-by-play, Mark Jones; analysis, Dusty Dvoracek; sideline, Marty Smith).
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1.
Satellite Radio: XM Channel 380, Sirius Channel 138, Internet Channel 970
Records: Kentucky (3-5 SEC), Florida (6-1 SEC).
Series history: Florida leads the series with Kentucky 52-18 and has won 32 of the past 33 meetings.
Last meeting: Florida defeated Kentucky 29-21 on Nov. 14, 2019, at Kroger Field.
Line: Florida is favored by 24 points.
The story line
Coming off a 63-3 annihilation at No. 1 Alabama, Kentucky travels to “The Swamp” seeking to earn back some respect against Dan Mullen’s high-scoring Gators.
The number to watch
Kentucky’s total yards. Having amassed a paltry 179 yards of offense in the blowout at Alabama, UK has now been held under 230 yards in four of its past six games. Against a high-octane Florida offense (371.7 yards and 45.8 points a game), Kentucky’s best chance is to keep the Gators’ ‘O’ on the bench — but to do that, you have to be able to move the chains.
The big threat
Kyle Trask. The Florida quarterback’s big break came last season in Lexington. Pressed into action after Feleipe Franks was injured, Trask rallied the Gators from 21-10 down after three quarters to victory. The performance established Trask as UF’s starting QB. This year, the 6-foot-5, 240-pound product of Manvel, Texas, has emerged as, arguably, the Heisman Trophy favorite. Trask leads the nation in touchdown passes (31), is fourth in passing yards per game (364.8) and sixth in pass efficiency rating (197.1).
On the spot
Mark Stoops. After the drubbing UK took in Tuscaloosa and with COVID-19/contact tracing potentially leaving Kentucky without some of its top players for a second straight week, the monumental task facing the Wildcats head coach is to get his team sufficiently dialed back in mentally and emotionally to produce a much better showing in another road game against a top-10 team.
The mood
Is grim. A Kentucky season that began with a high level of fan optimism has ended up in the pits of frustration. Beating Florida in Gainesville for a second straight time looks like a heavy lift, but for perception reasons UK needs to play far more competitively than it did at Bama.
This story was originally published November 23, 2020 at 2:15 PM.
