GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- No. 9 Florida secured its second shut out of the season after beating Towson 38-0 on Saturday.

The Gators remain perfect on the year but are they ready for their grueling Octorber schedule? Are they ready for a Top 10 showdown against Auburn next weekend?

"We're certainly going to find out next week, aren't we," said Dan Mullen. "We've taken care of business... We've played some good teams, but now it's going to go to a whole new level for us."

In the win over the Tigers this weekend, the defense had some missed tackles.

"I was disappointed with that," said the Gators head coach. "One of their backs wasn’t real big, a couple of times he was really low center of gravity and got underneath us."

And Florida still could not run the ball.

Mullen was informed during his post game presser that the team had its best performance on the ground on Saturday, rushing for 160 yards.

Mullen was not very impressed by that little fact.

"That’s not very good," said Mullen. "We got to get better for next week."

Florida only managed 60 yards rushing in the first half against an FCS opponent.

“It was about communication, and at halftime, we got everybody on the same page," said quarterback Kyle Trask about the run game struggles. “It was little things like different fronts we were getting so we had to get everybody on the same page and executing.”

“Just not taking care of the little things, not focusing in on every single little detail that goes into one single football play," said center Nick Buchanan. "We run a lot of plays out there on offense, so some things can get overwhelming, but you have to have that ability to calm yourself down and really hone in and play the next play.”

Mullen once again gave his team a not so friendly half time speech. The offensive line in particular was called out.

"I mean I just challenged them on missed assignments," Mullen said. "Again, you watch our runs, when we weren't running the ball they were like a bad run. But it was a bad run with a guy going the wrong way. I mean I'm supposed to block you and I don't block you and you tackle the running back right at the point of attack."

"I challenged them. That has got to improve," Mullen added. "That has got to improve for us. The mental toughness of the offensive line and their preparation has got to improve as we move forward. Those guys have got to. I know John (Hevesy) gets on them. They're young guys, 'Hey no, coach, I'm working.' 'No you're not. You're obviously not, because if you were working we wouldn't have missed assignments. So whatever you're doing is not enough.'

"They need to do more. NCAA rules, we're not going to have them here (all the time). So if you want to keep doing the same thing over and over again and you're not going to improve, what are you doing at night? Everyone learns differently. Tell me, are you walking it through at your dorm, at your apartment, are you drawing it, are you watching extra film? Everybody learns in a different way and guys have to learn what's the best way they can learn, what's the best way they can process information to get going? And then they've got to go do it. And if they don't, then we're not going to get better and we've got to find someone that can do it."

Not only did the head coach challenge the group as a whole, but the Gators made a change in the lineup.

Richard Gouraige entered the game at left guard, replacing Chris Bleich and moving Brett Heggie to right guard - the Gators ran for 100 yards in the second half.

"One, part of that is hitting mistakes and I want to roll guys through," Mullen said. "Richard has done a really good job for us. I want to roll guys through. We would have liked to maybe get some other guys in earlier too and maybe get a couple different combinations in there. Again, the game was pretty quick. We only got 60 plays, so we didn't get a chance to do that. Richard's really showing improvement. Continues to grow and we've got to continue to grow that depth on the offensive line."

If Florida wants to challenge Auburn, LSU and Georgia this next month, they need the team to turn it up to another gear. T

hey need the offensive line to perform.

They need to establish a run game.

“I think the gear comes from practice," said Buchanan. "We just have to go out there everyday and practice and attack practice, get better at the little things, improve our technique and fundamentals.

"I feel as though everyday we can get better at our technique and our fundamentals, the little things that go into being great offensive lineman," added Buchanan. "When it comes to better competition and getting into SEC play, of course you have to take it to another level and we’re prepared for the challenge.”

Florida will be thrust into the national spotlight once again next weekend. Now it's time to step up.

“You just challenge them, you just try to express to them the intensity it’s going to be," said Buchanan. "It’s an SEC game, it’s 3:30 in The Swamp, it doesn’t get any better than that. So just the intensity and the hype of the game since it’s a big game, so we’ll have to play big and play our best game. But that doesn’t come on Saturday, that comes on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and our preparation and what we have to do during the week.”

“It's going to be a big time environment so we have to do our best just to stay focused, stay our course and keep getting better every week," said Trask. "We have to prepare well. It's a big time week and we hope to get a big time win in The Swamp.”