Florida is 4-0 but hardly a flawless football team as they close out the month of September when they take on FCS Towson Saturday afternoon in The Swamp. Florida’s defense is ferocious, but the Gators’ path to an undefeated August and September hasn’t gone according to plan.

Almost nothing has come easy for this team.

Despite Miami busting out the Turnover Chain 4 times and a penalty-filled 4th quarter that boggles the imagination, the Gators won a narrow slopfest to open the season in Orlando. Two weeks later, Florida lost critical playmakers on both sides of the ball when Kadarius Toney and CJ Henderson suffered injuries in a blowout win over Tennessee-Martin. The Gators lost starting quarterback Feleipe Franks and trailed Kentucky by double digits in the 4th quarter before rallying to win behind backup quarterback Kyle Trask in Lexington.

Only Florida’s 34-3 rout of Tennessee seemed comfortable, and even in that game, the Gators struggled to generate much from the power run game that remains a central component of Dan Mullen’s spread offense.

Towson, a preseason top 10 FCS team visits Saturday, and Mullen says his team simply isn’t good enough to take an opportunity to compete for granted.

“Towson is a very solid football team,” Mullen said. “They are a homegrown team. A top 10 quality team in their division that knows how to win and expects to win. Front to back and top to bottom the roster is very solid and has been built to be a championship caliber team within their division. We better be prepared to play.”

Towson is the first of 3 consecutive games for the Gators against teams nicknamed Tigers. Beyond not taking this set of Tigers lightly, the Gators need to focus on getting better so they can compete with the mightier Tigers that await over the next 2 weeks.

“There will be a lot of hype on (the Auburn) game. It will be the CBS Game of the Week and all that. For us to have a chance to win that game, and to have a chance to win the one after that, we have to get better this week,” Mullen said.

“I thought we played better than we had all season — obviously with room for improvement — against Tennessee. A big reason for that was we practiced better than we had all season last week. If we don’t continue to take a step forward with that this week, it will show, not only next week but as we continue to move forward. We have big goals for the season. But they all start with the focus of are we getting better? Am I getting better as a player? That’s what we can control and we can worry about and what we need to focus on this week.”

With that focus in mind, here are five things we hope to see against Towson this Saturday.

1. A continued commitment and improvement in the run game

Florida’s receivers are every bit as good as advertised. The strength of this team is going to be the passing game. But the Gators can’t maximize that schematically, or the talent of that group of receivers — along with emerging mismatch nightmare Kyle Pitts — without at least a competent running game.

Lamical Perine, a preseason All-SEC selection, has done his part, leading the team in touchdowns and adding 13 receptions to his rushing totals. Too often, however, Perine has had to run through a tackle just to gain 2 or 3 yards. That’s because an inexperienced offensive line that entered the season as Florida’s largest question mark has struggled to get much of a push in the run game.

Right tackle Jean Delance has spent much of the season being knocked off the ball and incumbent left tackle Stone Forsythe has been little better. The interior of the line has held up OK, but freshman Chris Bleich is still learning, and none of Florida’s triumvirate of tight ends (Pitts, Lukas Krull and Kemore Gamble) have shown the type of constant run game push seen from the departed Moral Stephens and C’yontai Lewis a season ago.

Florida appeared to make some progress against a decent Tennessee front 7, especially in the 2nd half. Highly-touted Richard Gouraige had nice moments in the run game and guard Brett Heggie played his best game as a Gator since earning All-SEC Freshman team honors 2 seasons ago.

Was that progress or just a tired Tennessee defense mailing it in?

Towson won’t provide that answer, but the Gators should come out and try to impose their will on the ground Saturday afternoon anyway.

2. Commitment to the run game means an expanded Emory Jones package

Florida’s floundering run game also showed signs of life Saturday on the series where Emory Jones was under center. Florida earned 74 of its 128 yards rushing Saturday with Jones at quarterback, averaging almost 2 yards more per carry carry under Jones as compared to Trask.

Jones drew comparisons to Jalen Hurts in the recruiting process and Mullen praised his ability as a runner Monday.

“Emory Jones brings a threat with the ball in his hand that is a little bit different. He’s a dynamic runner,” Mullen said.

While he only had 1 carry against Tennessee, the threat of him running is something opponents have to respect. Teams also know Jones has a quality arm, which means they sell out against the run at their own risk when Jones is in the game.

Without Kadarius Toney, Florida has to be even more creative in the run game, and Jones gives the Gators an element they haven’t had on campus in a while. Expect to see a healthy dose of Jones in that capacity Saturday against Towson.

3. The continued emergence of Kyle Pitts as a problem for defenses

In Florida’s first 2 SEC games, Kyle Pitts has caught 8 passes on 9 targets for 125 yards and a touchdown.

As the excellent Florida beat writer Nick de la Torre put it at Gator Country, Pitts is the player you create in Madden.

He’s too fast for a linebacker — even a really good one like Tennessee’s Henry To’o To’o:

He’s too physical and strong for a corner, even a really good one like Tennessee’s Bryce Thompson, who has zero chance here:

https://twitter.com/Matthew_1384/status/1175566287340220416?s=20

Florida’s receiving corps is hard enough to cover on its own. Adding a mismatch freak like the 6-6, 250-pound Pitts is just not fair.

Expect the Gators to feed their young tight end early and often Saturday against Towson, which won’t have anything close to the athletes needed to defend him.

4. Turnover free football

Florida’s propensity to turn the ball over early this season has been troubling.
The Gators have 9 turnovers, only 5 short of their total in 13 games last season.

Thus far, Florida’s defense has done a tremendous job of mitigating the damage, limiting opponents to just 10 points off the 9 turnovers. As the schedule gets more difficult next week, the Gators will be less able to get away with being so careless with the football.

Might as well start by playing a turnover-free football game against Towson.

5. A complete performance on defense against a quality QB and offense

Towson quarterback Tom Flacco has Super Bowl bloodlines, but unlike his statuesque brother, this Flacco is a genuine dual-threat quarterback. A finalist for the Walter Payton Award (basically the FCS Heisman Trophy), Flacco is projected as a mid- to late-round NFL Draft pick because of his ability to extend plays and stress defenses with both his arm and legs. On the young season, Flacco has completed 60% of his passes, thrown for 1,092 yards and 6 TDs while also rushing for 227 yards and 2 TDs.

In truth, getting a shot at a seasoned dual-threat QB with NFL potential is a perfect primer for the Gators defense ahead of facing Bo Nix and Auburn, and the Gators should treat the game as a dress rehearsal.

Florida’s defense has been marvelous on the young season, holding 2 opponents without a touchdown, allowing only 4.5 yards per play (20th nationally), and ranking 1st nationally in sacks, 2nd in tackles for loss, 10th in scoring defense and 23rd in total defense.

Bigger challenges await, but a complete performance against an FCS offense averaging 40 points a game would be a good way to warm up.