Florida football continues its winning streak, opening SEC play with a 44-39 victory over the Auburn Tigers.
The Gators came into Jordan-Hare Stadium untested and left with much more experience than they had. The Tigers were the most formidable foe the Orange and Blue had faced up to that point, and it showed as they went into halftime with only a three-point lead.
However, the offense on display in the first two games carried into this showing.
At this point in the season, Florida has one of the most prolific offenses in the conference, if not the country. Aaron Philo looked like a leader as he was poised to command the offense en route to their five-point victory in the battle of the first-year SEC coaches.
Run the Baugh
Jadan Baugh has been exactly what Jon
Sumrall and Buster Faulkner spoke about in the offseason: a workhorse running back. In Saturday's victory, Baugh added 162 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns to his incredible start to his Heisman campaign.
Aaron Philo is a floor general
The box score numbers for Aaron Philo don't jump off the screen in this game, but those who watched this outing against Auburn will see how calm and collected the Florida quarterback looked in his SEC opener. Philo made every big-time throw you needed him to in this one, showing once more why he won the starting job — even the interception that was thrown was the right read; the pass catcher just popped the ball in the air.
This outing was an undisciplined performance
Yes, the Gators won the game, but this performance was a tough watch, with Florida committing 16 total penalties for 138 yards. Florida had ample opportunities to get off the field or put themselves in position to run away with this game but fell victim to penalties early on.
The defense struggled to contain Byrum Brown
Despite his early struggles, Byrum Brown got loose quite a bit in this one. Brown threw for 271 yards and three touchdowns. He also got out of the pocket to run the majority of the Tigers' run game, totaling 65 yards on the ground.
Buster Faulkner was the best addition this offseason
Buster Faulkner, along with Jon Sumrall, were home run hires to this point in the season and are accomplishing things that haven't been done since the 2007 season. After Saturday's victory, the Gators scored 40 points in each of their first three games since they did so in 2007, scoring 59 points against Western Kentucky, 49 against Troy, and 59 against Tennessee.
Faulkner's addition has been critical because of his creativity, which especially showed in the win.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Five key takeaways from Florida's first SEC win against Auburn
