Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – You can't turn around without bumping into a good storyline for Saturday's Florida-Auburn game at "The Swamp."

• The first meeting between top-10 teams in Gainesville since 2012.
• Auburn's first trip to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in 12 years.
• Florida's resurgence under second-year head coach Dan Mullen faces its stiffest test to date.
• Auburn freshman quarterback Bo Nix visits the place his father Patrick Nix once shushed with a last-minute touchdown throw 25 years ago.
• It's Homecoming weekend at UF and ESPN "GameDay" will be on campus Saturday.

And for those who prefer to dig into the X's, O's and bear fronts, there's the matchup between Auburn head coach/play-caller Gus Malzahn against Gators defensive coordinator Todd Grantham.

The two Southeastern Conference veterans are definitely no strangers.

"Their defensive coordinator, of course, we've went against each other a lot of times,'' Malzahn told reporters this week. "He's one of the best. He has an aggressive mindset; his players are playing that way and they've got some guys who can flat get after it."

Grantham paid equal respect to Malzahn, who started calling plays again in last year's Music City Bowl after relinquishing the role in 2016. Auburn is 6-0 since.

"Gus does a really good job of getting the ball to his playmakers. He is going to find ways to get the ball in those guys' hands,'' Grantham said. "And they're really a physical team when you look at their run game. You've got to be sure you play a complete game. We've had some battles. He's a guy that really challenges you to make sure that you are good in the run defense."

Since they first squared off nine years ago when Malzahn was Auburn's offensive coordinator and Grantham the defensive coordinator at Georgia, the two have matched wits five times. The first two as opposing coordinators, and in 2013, with Malzahn in his first season as Auburn's head coach and Grantham still at Georgia. In 2015, Grantham was Louisville's defensive coordinator when the Cardinals faced Auburn, and two years ago, he was Mississippi State's defensive coordinator when the Bulldogs lost at Auburn.

As Grantham indicated, a matchup to watch is Auburn's run game (251.0 yards per game, second in the SEC) against the Gators' run defense (86.8 yards per game, second in SEC).



 

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CHARTING THE GATORS

A look at matchups between Gus Malzahn offenses and Todd Grantham defenses this decade:
 

YEAR	GAME	RESULT	NOTABLE
2010	Georgia @ Auburn	Auburn W 49-31	Cam Newton-led Tigers rushed for 315 yards on 57 attempts
2011	Auburn @ Georgia	Georgia W 45-7	Bulldogs forced three turnovers, outgained Tigers 528-195
2013	Georgia @ Auburn	Auburn W 43-38	Tigers gained 566 yards, Georgia 532 in shootout decided on 4th-and-18 TD
2015	Auburn vs. Louisville*	Auburn W 31-24	Tigers escaped despite only 327 yards and three turnovers
2017	Mississippi State at Auburn	Auburn W 49-10	Big plays doomed Bulldogs as Auburn racked up 511 yards

 
*Played in Atlanta
 

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NOTES AND NUGGETS

• As SEC West rivals, Gators head coach Dan Mullen went 3-6 against Auburn in his nine seasons at Mississippi State. He was 2-3 in head-to-head meetings against current Tigers coach Gus Malzahn.
• Florida is 3-3 all-time against Auburn when both teams are ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press Top 25, winning in 1985, '95 and '97, and losing in 1983, '87 and '94.
• The Gators have defeated seven of the last nine top-10 ranked opponents to visit Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, including a 27-19 victory over then-No. 5 LSU a season ago.
• Florida is off to its first 5-0 start since 2015 and has won nine consecutive games, the program's longest win streak since a school-record 22-game streak spanning the 2008-09 seasons.
• The Gators are completing 74.8 percent of their passes (116 of 155, 11 TD, 5 INT), a 15-percent jump from Mullen's first season (59.6). Kyle Trask is 47 of 61 (77 percent) for 607 yards, four TDs and two interceptions since replacing injured Feleipe Franks.
• Florida is expected to have as many as six players who missed last week's win over Towson due to injury -- DE Jabari Zuniga, S Jeawon Taylor, S Shawn Davis, LB Ventrell Miller, CB CJ Henderson and WR Freddie Swain -- back for Auburn.
• Florida is the final SEC opponent among the league's 13 other schools for Malzahn to face since taking over the Tigers in 2013. Florida and Auburn last met in 2011, a 17-6 home win for the Tigers.
• Auburn kickers have made 299 consecutive PATs, three shy of matching Florida State's NCAA record set from 2012-16.
• Auburn QB Bo Nix became the first Tigers true freshman QB to start a season opener since 1946 when he started the Aug. 31 opener against Oregon. Nix threw for 335 yards in last week's win over Mississippi State, his first career 300-yard game.
• Sophomore WR Seth Williams had a career-high 161 yards receiving in the victory over Mississippi State, the most yards for an Auburn receiver since Sammie Coates had 206 against Alabama in 2014.