Behind the Numbers: Florida Gators vs. Auburn Tigers

By
Daniel Thompson
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The Florida Gators have played six games in the 2019 season and have won all six of them – and you can’t ask for anything more than that.

On Saturday, the Florida Gators beat the Auburn Tigers 24-13, improving Dan Mullen’s coaching record at Florida to 16-3, is 3-0 against the SEC West, and now has two top-10 wins.

While the game wasn’t pretty, and certainly Florida can still continue to work on a lot – including in run blocking, quarterback timeliness, and safety play – Florida’s bend, don’t break attitude on defense, coupled with big drives on offense, powered them to a win against a team many in the college football world were starting to really hype up in the College Football Playoff discussion.

What numbers defined the Florida Gators upset win over Auburn?

  • Lamical Perine’s 130 yards, mostly on an 88-yard run which was the longest run at UF since Emmitt Smith ran a 96-yard touchdown in 1988, were more than Perine had run in his previous three games combined and his highest yards per carry (9.29) since the Michigan game in 2019 where he had 12.67.
  • The Gators have thrown for at least 250 yards in each of the six games this season. They only did it three times last season and once in 2017. The Gators also threw for zero interceptions and have thrown an interception in just three of the last 11 games they’ve played.
  • The Gators have a rushing touchdown in 14 straight games.
  • The Gators rank 13th in the country in passing plays that are greater than 10 yards (66 plays).
  • The Gators lead the country in takeaways (17) and interceptions (12). The Gators have gained a turnover in ten straight games and have had one in 17 of the 19 games under Dan Mullen and Todd Grantham.
  • The Gators recorded two sacks, bringing their total up to 17 straight games with at least one sack.
  • Auburn was in the red zone once and ended with zero points. The Gators have only allowed opponents to score five times in 14 attempts (three touchdowns and two field goals), which at a 35.71% scoring rate is number one in the country and 17 percentage points better than the second-place team in the country.
  • Auburn was averaging 251.2 yards per game coming into the game Saturday but was only able to run for 109 yards on 33 attempts.
  • The Gators currently rank fifth in the country in scoring defense (9.5), 15th in the country in rush defense, and 18th in the country in pass defense. They rank 3rd in the country in sacks.
  • David Reese currently leads the SEC in tackles with 49, while Jonathan Greenard (4) is tied for first in the SEC in sacks and Shawn Davis is tied for first in interceptions (3)
  • In the last 13 quarters the Gators have outscored their opponents 115-16 and have outscored SEC opponents 87-37 this season.
  • The Gators 10-game win streak is third in the country behind Clemson and Ohio State.
  • The Gators have now extended their scoring streak to 390 games, by far the most in college football.
  • The Gators currently have the longest active win streak in the SEC.
Daniel Thompson
Daniel Thompson
Dan Thompson is a 2010 graduate of the University Florida, graduating with a degree in Economics and a degree in Political Science. During this time at UF, Dan worked three years for the Florida Gator Football team as a recruiting ambassador. Dan dealt daily with prospects, NCAA guidelines, and coaching staff. Dan was also involved in Florida Blue Key, Student Government and Greek Life. Currently, Dan oversees the IT consulting practice of a Tampa-based company. Dan enjoys golfing, country music, bourbon, travel, oysters, and a medium-rare steak. Dan can be found on Twitter at @DK_Thompson.