Florida cleared a substantial hurdle with its win over Georgia on Saturday, and ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit noticed it. He also pointed out what was different for the Gators and how they pulled off the upset.

Florida QB Kyle Trask became the first quarterback in SEC history to have four touchdowns in five consecutive games, as the Gators beat Georgia 44-28 on Saturday. Herbstreit noticed a change in the demeanor of Trask, and he shared those thoughts on the “CFB Podcast with Herbie, Pollack & Negandhi.”

Trask completed 30-of-43 passes for a career-high 474 yards, which was just eight yards shy of Tim Tebow’s single-game school record even though he played much of the game without standout tight end Kyle Pitts, who exited after a bone-crushing hit over the middle from Lewis Cine.

“Enormous,” Herbstreit said. “I mean, I thought Georgia’s defense — obviously, I didn’t think they’d be depleted with the way they were and especially throughout the game. But I don’t know if it really would’ve mattered that much. I thought when Florida dug themselves a hole — I’ve never seen Kyle Trask play with emotion in the two years we’ve watched him be a quarterback. He’s been more of a kind of stoic figure in his personality. But there were some touchdowns that were happening and cameras going to his emotion on the sideline, and I kind of like to see that in a rivalry game. He was really feeling it after the (Trevon) Grimes touchdown, and he should. Think about his numbers at halftime. I mean, that was stuff that you just never see against any defense, let alone against a Georgia defense. And I think they had a ton of confidence. … So they were feeling it, feeling good.”

Herbstreit also noticed how the win changes the trajectory of the Florida program, even within a season when the Gators appeared to be off track after the loss to Texas A&M, and Dan Mullen had drawn considerable criticism for his comments on “packing” The Swamp, the COVID outbreak in the program including Mullen testing positive, and the dust up against Missouri.

“Dan Mullen deserves a lot of credit. He hadn’t beaten Kirby Smart as a head coach at Florida. And so, this was not only big for 2020 and getting into the driver seat in the SEC East and trying to get to Atlanta and a chance to play Alabama and maybe a shot to get to a Playoff, but it was also big for their program and recruiting,” Herbstreit said. “And think about a few weeks ago — Florida lost to A&M, then they had the issues with COVID, lot of people wondered if they were kind of a forgotten brand. And after that, to me, they’ve really looked like a different team coming off of the A&M loss and having to postpone the LSU game. They blew Missouri out, who was kind of a trendy team at that point in time. And what they did to Georgia — that’s why, in my rankings right now, I moved Florida all the way up to five, ahead of A&M, even though A&M had already beaten ’em. I think their performance caught my eye, caught everybody’s eye with the way they played.”