Florida football: 3 overreactions from Florida’s win over Auburn

It happens every week, win or lose. And Florida football is no exception. It’s the classic overreactions by either fans or national pundits. Well, we wanted to beat them to the punch.

A big win by Florida football over Auburn? Most definitely.

A program-defining one? Eh, maybe a little heavy on that.

But, the 24-13 home win by the Gators certainly did put Florida football back into the national spotlight after being absent for so many years.

However, with that spotlight comes a good about of speculation over what the win means and where the program goes from here.

So, we wanted to look at three overreactions following Florida’s big win Saturday and tell you whether you should buy the hype (believe it) or sell the hype (dismiss it).

Florida football is in a prime position to win the SEC East

After beating No. 7 Auburn, then-No. 10 Florida football made a strong case for why it could be one of the best teams in the conference.

They did just beat one of the best running offenses and best defenses in the conference, right?

Auburn is one of the best teams in the West and, besides LSU would have a decent shot at knocking No. 1 Alabama off its pedestal.

So, Florida football beats Auburn, ergo, they could line up with Alabama, right?

At least that is how one argument would go.

Buy or Sell: Sell this. Florida is good and I would go so far as to suggest they are even more improved than last year, but that’s a big jump to suggest they are the best team in the East, let alone the Southeastern Conference.

Georgia is still the top dog (see what I did there?) until someone comes and knocks them off. Can Florida do that? Most certainly.

Will they?

That’s the bigger question.

The Gators found their running game

Against one of the better run defenses in the country, Florida football rushed for more than 100 yards for the first time in a while.

Lamical Perine found his groove and scampered for more than 100 yards in a game for the first time this season.

Perine even found the end zone on an 88-yard run to seal the game for the Gators in the fourth quarter.

So, after five games of futility, Florida football has finally found its feet and it primed to use them in their remaining games.

Buy or Sell: I think you have to sell this too. I am one that really wants the running game to spark and be another fork of the Gators’ attack trident.

But, while he did get 130 net yards on the ground, remember 88 of those yards was on one play. Without that, Perine had just 42 yards on 13 carries, an average of 3.23 yards per carry. No one else for Florida football managed more than 16 yards on the ground against the Tigers.

Florida football will beat LSU Saturday

The Gators went out and held one of the most potent rushing offenses to a season-low 124 yards.

Auburn was just an inept passing the football as freshman Bo Nix managed just 145 yards passing and only one touchdown.

In the meantime, the Gators’ defense sacked Nix three times and picked him off three times.

Clearly, the Florida football defense rose to the challenge of handling the Tigers offensively. Auburn never really found a rhythm as its receivers were pestered all day by the Florida secondary.

It’s running game was equally flustered as the offensive line struggled to get any push up front on Florida’s front set.

So, with that in mind, Florida should be able to handle LSU in Baton Rouge, right?

Buy or Sell: Here is another you have to sell.

First, LSU’s passing offense is a juggernaut. Quarterback Joe Burrow leads the SEC with 1,864 yards passing and the Tigers have a conference-leading 571 yards per game average for total offense.

Now, I’m not saying Florida won’t beat LSU. I am saying you can’t judge opponents as being equal. I do think Florida can upset LSU in Baton Rouge, but it’s not because of what they did to Auburn because Auburn and LSU are completely different teams.

No. 5 LSU will host No. 7 Florida at 8 p.m. Saturday in Baton Rouge.