Florida makes College Football Playoff statement with dominating win over Auburn

The Florida Gators knocked off fellow top-10 foe in the Auburn Tigers on Saturday evening. It was impressive, but should we take Florida seriously now?

This was the signature game of the weekend slate in college football. The No. 7 Auburn Tigers made the trek to Gainesville to take on the No. 10 Florida Gators in The Swamp. These two SEC teams used to play all the time before realignment. It’s a shame, because we got a real treat of a game on Saturday, as Florida upset the visiting Tigers 24-13 to achieve bowl eligibility.

Both teams were entering play on Saturday at a cool 5-0. Auburn had wins over two top-25 teams in the Oregon Ducks on a neutral site in Arlington, as well as on the road at the Texas A&M Aggies in College Station.

However, it was the Gators’ day in the sun, as they got their first signature victory of the season. Auburn is good and so is Florida, but what do we make of the Gators’ excellent display of resilience and poise down in The Swamp?

We have to give the Florida defense a ton of credit. Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham made life difficult for Auburn true freshman Bo Nix. He completed only 11 of 27 passes for 145 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. Nix has looked good at times in his true freshman season, but Florida certainly got the better play out of the quarterback position this week.

Quarterback Kyle Trask completed 19 of 31 passes for 234 yards, two touchdowns and no picks. He had to leave the game briefly in the second quarter after taking a shot to his knee on a hit from behind. Florida had already lost its Week 1 starter Feleipe Franks for the season due to a broken ankle. Give the Gators credit for not panicking once Trask walked into the locker room.

Emory Jones came in and led the Gators on a drive that ended in a field goal. Trask would be back in for the Gators before the end of the first half. Florida would rally behind their signal-caller and shut out the Tigers in the second half in The Swamp. The Gators had a 17-13 lead heading into halftime, but an 88-yard scamper from running back Lamical Perine was the difference.

So Florida improves to 6-0 and will certainly climb up in the latest AP Top 25 Poll at least a few spots with this win over Auburn. The Gators are good, but just how good are they?

Well, they will have a huge road test next week versus the cross-divisional rival LSU Tigers in Death Valley. LSU is undefeated and is getting transcendent quarterback play out of Joe Burrow this season. You’d think that LSU was a pro football factory for quarterbacks with the way he’s been slinging it.

Truthfully, this will be a very tough spot for the Gators. To come off a huge emotional win at home and then have to play a hated rival on the road the following week is tough sledding for even the most even-keeled college football programs. Gator Nation shouldn’t expect a victory on the road in Baton Rouge next week, but that doesn’t mean it’s out of the realm of possibility for Florida.

But what the Florida fanbase should expect is a one-loss record heading into their huge SEC East rivalry game with the Georgia Bulldogs down in Jacksonville in about a month.

Florida should be able to handle the South Carolina Gamecocks the week after LSU to get to presumably 7-1 on the year. It doesn’t matter if that game is in Columbia, Florida is the superior team. The Gators would love nothing more than to beat their former head coach Will Muschamp on his new turf and further put him on the hot seat.

What this performance at home against Auburn tells us is that the Gators have enough mental toughness and a strong enough defense to hang with the likes of LSU and Georgia in their next two huge SEC clashes. That’s all you can hope for at this point.

Florida can win 10 games this year but may need another big SEC victory over either LSU or Georgia to even think about getting to Atlanta. Regardless, this was a huge win for Dan Mullen and his football team. This was the type of performance that helps transform good Florida teams into great ones. They played so well today and we can’t take that away from them.

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