Florida football: 5 takeaways from Saturday’s win over Auburn

It may not have been the prettiest, but hey, Florida football fans, we’ll take it. The Gators contained the No. 7 Auburn Tigers Saturday.

If there was a statement to be made, Jon Greenard, David Reese and the Florida football defense certainly made it.

The offense was able to hold its own as well, jumping out to a 14-6 lead in the first half and scoring another 10 points in the win.

All-in-all, Florida football needed a win now because the next three weeks are spent on the road against just-as-tough opposition.

With that, here are our five takeaways from Saturday’s 24-13 win over No. 7 Auburn Saturday.

It’s the defense’s world and we just live in it

If there was a big question to be answered Saturday it was how Florida football’s defense could handle a decent offense like Auburn.

I mean, really, Kentucky, Tennessee and Miami hardly qualify as decent.

Well, the answer was overwhelming.

Not mentioning the first quarter, Florida’s defense contained the vaulted Auburn running game to just 124 yards and picked off freshman quarterback Bo Nix three times.

They were also able to sack Nix twice — just because.

Reece and Greenard combined for 19 tackles while Shawn Davis and Donovan Stiner combined for nine more — in addition to the interceptions they each had.

In total, it was a complete defensive effort for the Gators, who showed little weakness against the best offense they’ve faced to date.

The offense wasn’t too shabby either

Florida football had 398 yards of total offense against an Auburn defense ranked one of the best in the Southeastern Conference.

Freddie Swain going over the middle was a bread-and-butter play the Gators used on more than one occasion — including his scoring on the play in the first quarter.

And, let’s not forget the potency of Kyle Trask and even Emory Jones under center (I’m not forgetting Lucas Krull either).

All three quarterbacks — I know that Krull only had one pass, but I’ll toss him in for measure — had quarterback ratings of more than 100. Trask clocked in with a rating of 146 (his third game over 100) while Jones was at 105.

(Krull had a passer rating of 133.6, by the way).

In all, the offense seemed to click more efficiently than we have seen in a long time. It seems Dan Mullen is comfortable with Trask and the offensive unit is too. Heck, they seem just as comfortable with Jones.

A little payback for Perine

Okay, a lot of us have been a bit harsh on Florida football running back Lamical Perine.

I mean, really, he has been struggling of late.

But Saturday he found a breakout. Of course, a lot of it was due to an 88-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter that sealed the game, but heck, I’m sure he’ll take it (I know most in Gator Nation will).

Perine ended the game with 130 net yards on 14 carries — an average of 9.3 yards per carry.

Now, you have to keep in mind the 88-yard run is a big part of that. Take that away and the averages aren’t as good.

However, an 88-yard touchdown run could be just what the doctor ordered for Perine, who really needed to have a break-out.

Hopefully, this will get Perine and the run game back on track, especially with the gauntlet of games left this month.

There were some dents in the armor though

Let’s be clear, in the first six games of the season, there has been marked progress by Florida football.

Now withstanding the season-ending injury to their starting quarterback, the Florida Gators against Miami are not the Florida Gators we saw on Saturday against Auburn.

That’s a good thing.

But, there were some things Saturday that still need to be worked on.

The biggest is the need for Florida runners to hang on to the football.

I’m not really counting Dameon Pierce‘s fumble because that was targeting, and I don’t care what the replay official saw.

However, Trask did cough up the football three times, which is problematic.

Florida football could have tacked on another touchdown or two to the tally, if not for turning the ball over.

We are just fortunate Auburn managed just six points from those three turnovers.

We may not be so lucky in Death Valley next week.

This win was good, but it’s just the beginning

The win Saturday is certainly a reason to celebrate, but the schedule doesn’t get any easier for Florida football.

There is certainly reason for hope after watching Florida dismantle a team like Auburn.

But, now the real tests happen.

We don’t return home until November — with stops at LSU, at South Carolina and in a neutral location against Georgia. Two of those opponents are still ranked in the top 10.

The point here is that we should not rest on our laurels. After a little celebration today, we have to get back to work and prepare for LSU.

That offense is something else and the defense will have to go up another notch to compete.

And, the offense has to get things in line as the crowd in Baton Rouge is not likely to be happy to see us.

So, celebrate today, but it’s back to work tomorrow.