Safe. Smart. Successful.

More than anything, that’s Florida football under Kyle Trask.

Trask was his efficient self Saturday, leading the No. 9 Gators to a routine 38-0 victory over FCS Towson. He improved to 2-0 as a starter and has been the driving force behind the Gators’ past 3 victories.

Saturday’s outcome was as predictable as the short passes Trask completed all afternoon.

Trask started 13-for-13 in the opening half for 139 yards and a 5-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Pitts, who made a nifty move at the line to escape double coverage. He opened the 2nd half with another TD pass to Pitts, this one a 7-yard dart on a fade route that extended Florida’s cushion to 24-0. Trask exited at the start of the 4th quarter after an 18-for-20 day for 188 yards. Emory Jones came on and added a 2-yard TD pass to Keon Zipperer for the final margin.

At the risk of overstating things, Trask looked a bit like Jake Fromm, right down to the jersey number.

One big difference: The Gators’ rushing game isn’t exactly reminding folks of Georgia, and while that hardly mattered against Towson, it most certainly will next week against Auburn and in 2 weeks at LSU.

Florida entered the game ranked just 12th in the SEC in rushing. It was only slightly better against Towson.

Lamical Perine had 16 yards on 6 carries in the opening half, continuing a stretch in which he just can’t seem to get going. Part of it has been workload. Perine hasn’t had more than 14 carries in a game, but he’s averaging fewer than 4 yards per attempt.

Nobody else has really picked up the slack, either. Dameon Pierce had a career-day Saturday, but he entered the game with just 74 yards on the season. Pierce exceeded that Saturday. He finished with 84 yards against Towson, including a 37-yard TD run in the 3rd quarter to make it 31-0.

As long as Florida’s defense keeps doing its thing, it won’t matter. For the 3rd time in 5 games, Florida held an opponent to a field goal or nothing.

Again, it’s about to get tougher, a lot tougher. Auburn has a dynamic dual-threat QB in Bo Nix and weapons on the outside. LSU leads the country in scoring.

Florida has had 5 games to get ready.

The next 2 games will determine the arc of the Gators’ season.

Trask and the defense are playing well enough to give them a chance.