10 observations in Gators 38-0 win over Towson

Florida on the mend
Florida has been hit by an injury bug this season but it appears that they’re going to be near full strength when Auburn comes to town next weekend. The Gators have been without starting cornerback CJ Henderson and defensive end Jabari Zuniga for most of the last three games. Florida added Freddie Swain (undisclosed) and Shawn Davis (undisclosed) to the injury report on Saturday but Dan Mullen was optimistic after the win.

“Hopefully we get a bunch of guys back next week, you know what I mean? There were some guys that were on the edge this week, we sat them all injury-wise,” Mullen said. “They were right on the edge, we were going to stretch to get them in there to go play but we didn’t. But hopefully, we get everybody back going next week.”

The only player that will miss the game right now is Kadarius Toney. The junior had shoulder surgery and has been in a sling for three weeks. He isn’t expected back until after Florida’s bye week before they play Georgia.

Gators have the right mindset
Give credit to Dan Mullen and his entire coaching staff. Florida and Auburn is an exciting game. I’m pumped for it and I know a lot of Gator fans that remember the old Florida-Auburn matchups are excited for it. College GameDay will likely be in Gainesville for the game and it would have been human nature for the players — they are 18-20 years old after all. I’m not saying that Towson would have beat Florida if the Gators would have overlooked them but it was good to see that, no matter the opponent, the Gators just continue to focus on themselves and handle their business. It’s a good approach to have.

More wrinkles in the offensive scheme
Florida started the game under center and was under center more than they have been since Dan Mullen has been at Florida. Add in all of the screen passes, a tunnel screen to Keon Zipperer that gave the freshman his first career reception several other offensive wrinkles and it’s clear that Mullen has something up his sleeve. The reverse that Florida ran in the first quarter isn’t new but it’s definitely something Mullen wants on film for Auburn to see and it’s a play that can have a bunch of different looks.

Emory Jones first time running the offense
Ever since Emory Jones stepped foot on campus we’ve heard about a package for him. When Jones got into the game in the second half there was no package, just the playbook. Jones came in and started off in his usual way with zone reads and handoffs and then started firing away. He completed his first pass to Jacob Copeland for 16 yards (a great snag by Copeland). His second pass went for 21 yards to Tyrie Cleveland and his third was the aforementioned tunnel screen to Zipperer. He completed his first six passes and looked good throwing the ball. His two incompletions were a drop by Rick Wells and a drop by Copeland. The ball to Copeland was slightly underthrown but catchable and would have been another touchdown.

We needed to see what Jones could do without training wheels on and the first look was good.

Second-half defense
It would be great to see the Gators’ defense show up at the start of the game and play lights out for four quarters, obviously. Still, these second-half numbers are starting to look absurd.

Florida has allowed just 17 points in the second half of five games. They’ve only allowed seven points in the fourth quarter but that was over a month ago in the season opener to Miami.

Over the last nine quarters total the Gators have outscored opponents 91-3 and have outscored opponents in the second half 105-17 this season. Whatever Todd Grantham is drawing up in the locker room is working.

Missed tackles & 3rd down defense
It’s not all good. The Gators continue to miss tackles and they, again, struggled to get off the field on third down. Towson converted five of its first seven third-down attempts and finished 8-of-15.

“We didn’t do a good job getting off the field,” Mullen said after the game. “That’s something we’ve got to get better at. Even for the day, we gave up 8-of-15 third-down conversions on the day and didn’t do a great job of getting off the field in the first half.”

As good as Florida’s defense has been this season these two things go hand-in-hand and they’re going to end up costing the Gators a game. It’s a shame that such a good defense can have these fundamental issues continue to pop up.

THIEVES
Florida’s defense had just two takeaways in their first two games. It got to a point that Dan Mullen was even asked about his team not creating turnovers, while the offense continued to throw them around like candy on Halloween.

Mullen isn’t getting asked anymore.

IN the last three games the Gators have created 11 turnovers (9 interceptions, 2 fumble recoveries).

Kyle Pitts is a cheat code
The Kyle Trask and Kyle Pitts bromance is really starting to blossom. Pitts was the recipient of Trask’s first two passes and two touchdowns. In the last two games Kyle Trask has completed 38 passes, eight of those have been to Pitts and three of the eight scored.

“Kyle’s a tough matchup on people at tight end. You’re starting to see him now really get comfortable within the offense. Not Trask, Kyle Pitts. Kyle, he runs routes and the mismatch, he can cause problems when you try to create. As always we try to create matchups across the board and he can cause some of those issues. Me and John put him in those positions when he plays. I think you see his comfort of really growing as a route runner and being comfortable within the offense and running his routes and how he’s getting open. I just think you’re seeing him growing and maturing.”

Pitts is a cheat code. He’s a freak and he’s going to be a star.

The O-line gets called out
It was bound to happen. There’s not much more I can say than what Dan Mullen said, so here’s his full quote.

“You watch our runs; when we weren’t running the ball (well) they were like in negative, like a back run. That’s a bad run but a guy is going the wrong way. I’m supposed to block you, I don’t block you and you tackle the running back. That doesn’t help the cause. I challenged them. That has got to improve. That has got to improve for us. The mental toughness of the offensive line in their preparation has got to improve as we move forward. Those guys have got to. I know John gets on them. They’re young guys. They go, ‘Coach, I’m working.’ No, you’re not, obviously not, because if you were working we wouldn’t have missed assignments, so what you’re doing is not enough. They need to do more. OK. If you want to keep doing the same thing over and over again, you’re not going to improve, what are you doing at night? Everybody learns differently. Are you walking it through in the dorm at night, are you drawing it, are you watching film? Everybody learns in a different way, OK. And guys have got to learn what’s the best way they learn, what’s the best way they can improve at processing information as they get going, and they got to do it. And if they don’t, then they’re not going to get better, and then we got to find somebody that can.”

Respect isn’t given, it’s earned
Florida is a top-10 team in every major poll, so it isn’t that the Gators are being disrespected, but they haven’t truly been tested yet. The Gators will be tested this week and we’ll truly learn what this team is made of, how good they are and how good they can be. Auburn is no joke. The eyes of the entire college football world will be watching the game being played at 3:30 on CBS next week. Florida will be featured on HBO in the middle of the week. It’s an incredible opportunity for the University of Florida to go out and make a statement.

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC