Florida football: 5 takeaways from Gators’ win over Towson

A win is a win is a win is likely the mantra for No. 9 Florida football following its 38-0 win over the Towson Tigers Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

Well, you can’t say it was the prettiest win for Florida football, but then again, it was a win.

There was no performance that stood out as extraordinary — unless you count Towson quarterback Tom Flacco in the first half — for Florida, but there wasn’t anything that was particularly blah either.

However, it was a game the Gators were supposed to win by a wide margin and, albeit 38 points is wide, I think there are those in Gator Nation somewhat disappointed with the fact that Florida football didn’t go out and hang 56 on Towson.

Well, part of that is because Towson, despite being an FCS team, is a really good FCS team that is likely to do very good things in the Colonial Athletic and could make a strong run into the FCS playoffs.

The other part, well, we’ll cover that here in our five takeaways from the Florida win.

The offensive line still not where it needs to be

It is better, but still not where we need it to be going into the gauntlet of games Florida football has coming up.

They are still getting beat off the ball and susceptible to blitz pressure.

Quarterback Kyle Trask was sacked three times by a Towson defense that, in all reality, wasn’t all that good.

Additionally, there is still a big struggle to open gaps for the running game. If not for Dameon Pierce finding ways around the outside, Florida’s running game would have been just a putrid as it has been the first four games of the season.

Going into games with No. 7 Auburn, No. 4 LSU and No. 3 Georgia, Florida football is going to have to get it together upfront.

But, Pierce was solid

Say what you will about senior loyalty, but Pierce stole the show with the running game against the Tigers.

He averaged 14 yards per carry en route to 84 net yards on six carries and a touchdown.

Lamical Perine was supposed to be the workhorse this year, but it just hasn’t materialized. Maybe it will in the next few games, maybe it won’t.

The fact of the matter is perhaps it’s time for Dan Mullen and crew to give Pierce more reps as he has proven to be the better of the running backs of late.

The defense needs all of its tools this week

Now, I watched part of No. 7 Auburn’s thorough dismantling of Mississippi State Saturday night and it was, well, impressive.

Freshman quarterback Bo Nix went 16-for-21 for 335 yards and a pair of touchdowns while wide receiver Seth Williams had eight catches for 161 yards and two touchdowns.

Needless to say, Auburn is pretty good at throwing the ball. Perhaps not as good as Alabama or LSU, but they are pretty darn close.

That means Florida football will need all of its defensive tools available this week — including defensive back C.J. Henderson. Henderson sat out Saturday’s game with Towson because, quite frankly, he wasn’t needed. Likewise, Jabari Zuniga sat out Saturday, but needs to be available this week for Auburn.

While Mississippi State looked like a disorganized train wreck Saturday, Auburn had a stellar first half, scoring 42 points.

With the way Florida’s defense struggled early against Towson, the unit will have its work cut out for them this week in practice.

Getting off cruise control

It was a bit easier for mishaps to be taken a little lightly Saturday because it was Towson. Not Georgia. Not LSU and not Auburn.

But, fun time is over and it’s time for the Gators to really lock things down heading into this tough stretch.

It’s time to focus on the fundamentals of not missing assignments on defense — I’m looking at you D-line — and not missing blocks on offense — that was for you O-line.

Trask seemed even more at home with the offense this week, but don’t expect Auburn to give those short passes away like Towson did.

The Tigers are going to bump receivers off the line and aggravate the offensive line to force mistakes.

Bottom line is the Gators have to lock it down now.

Give a little credit

Yes, Towson is an FCS team that really didn’t get a lot of respect from Gator Nation until the first half Saturday.

That’s when they saw just how talented Tiger quarterback Tom Flacco really was.

He may have only had 82 yards passing, but he made up for that with 42 yards on the ground on Towson’s first drive of the game.

No, he isn’t Jalen Hurts good, or even Kyle Trask good, but Flacco is a good quarterback that will likely lead Towson to some very good things this season.

Florida football will host Auburn at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.