It’s been nearly six years since the Florida Gators celebrated a win against Alabama. What used to be a matchup between two of the top SEC schools has become predominately one-sided with both programs going in relatively different directions since the 2009 SEC Championship game.

2010 – 2014 records

Gators: 32-21 (17-15)

Crimson Tide: 49-7 (26-6), two national championships

The 2014 Gators come into Saturday’s showdown with Alabama in the midst of some uncertainty. Will Muschamp hired his third offensive coordinator in four years and while Kurt Roper is expected to have more success than his two predecessors, there’s still not enough evidence to suggest those expectations will come to fruition. But after a disastrous 4-8 season in 2013, this year became a statement season for Florida with fans once again hopeful for a Gators’ resurgence back to the top of the SEC East.

Despite a dominant season-opening win against Eastern Michigan, last week’s triple overtime win against Kentucky again raised questions about Florida’s ability to compete in the SEC this season. And with a road matchup against Alabama looming, there aren’t too many in the “upset” camp for the Orange and Blue.

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Will this be the game the Gators finally put it all together under Muschamp? In order to do just that, they’ll need to execute in several areas to score a win against the Crimson Tide.

1) Establish the running game

Can quarterback Jeff Driskel beat Alabama with his arm? Probably not. At least, not by himself. He needs the run game to be a huge part of the Gators offense this Saturday.

So far this season, running the football has been a bright spot for the Gators. They boast arguably their deepest group of running backs in quite some time with Matt Jones, Kelvin Taylor, Mack Brown and freshman Brandon Powell. More than likely, the bulk of the carries will go to Jones and Taylor. The two tailbacks have 353 rushing yards and four touchdowns combined.

Florida fans saw just how important the power run game could be for the team this season after Driskel failed to develop much of a rhythm at times against Kentucky last week. Jones especially stood out against the Wildcats, racking up 165 rushing yards and scored the game-winning touchdown. Muschamp see Jones as the guy Florida can lean on late in games for those much needed yards up the middle.

“Matt ran extremely well, especially late in the game,” Muschamp said. “He’s 235 pounds. He gets heavy as the game goes on. He showed you guys that. That was the form we saw a spring ago, you know, before last season. And with the runs he was making, really happy to see him healthy.”

In addition to Jones and Taylor, Driskel also needs to show some competency running the football. Back in 2012 when Driskel was at his best, he was so effective because of his dual-threat abilities. His 408 rushing yards and four touchdowns added a whole other wrinkle to the Florida offense and was a key to their Sugar Bowl appearance that season. However, this season Driskel has been far less dangerous running the football, averaging just 3.4 yards per attempt on seven carries.

In the past, we’ve seen Alabama’s defense struggle the most when the quarterback is effective with the run. The Crimson Tide have lost two SEC games in the past two seasons and in those two games, Nick Marshall and Johnny Manziel both ran for 99 and 92 yards, respectively.

It won’t be an easy thing to accomplish for Florida because the Alabama defense leads the nation in rushing defense, giving up just 42 yards per game. But if the Gators want to have success against Alabama, Driskel must overcome the stingy Alabama defense and force them to respect the running games of both he and his running backs.

2) Run the offense with a fast tempo

One area of weakness we’ve seen from the Alabama defense is their struggles against up-tempo offenses. It’s not necessarily a specific problem to Alabama as many teams have trouble containing up-tempo offenses, however, it’s clear Alabama has yet to remedy the problem.

Looking back at the Crimson Tide’s prior losses to Texas A&M, Auburn and Oklahoma, all three teams ran up-tempo style offenses. With the exception of Auburn, who ran 68 plays against Alabama in last year’s Iron Bowl, the Aggies and Sooners both had 70+ snaps. In their 2014 season-opener, Alabama still looked vulnerable against a West Virginia offense that worked at a quicker pace. They surrendered 393 yards of offense in just a 10-point victory for the Tide.

Defensive coordinator Kirby Smart acknowledged prior to the season that his team needs to improve at stopping the up-tempo offenses.

“There’s a lot of ways to improve on [defending up-tempo offenses], whether it’s being in shape, cutting weight, playing more snaps or playing more people,” Smart said. “So you’ve got to have more depth. There’s a lot of things we can do to hopefully improve on that and try to play those style of offenses better.”

Fortunately for the Gators, keeping an up-tempo offense with a high number of snaps is something Roper has harped on since arriving in Gainesville. Last week against Kentucky in what Roper referred to as a “slower” tempo, the Gators still ran 81 plays in regulation. Currently, Florida is averaging 90 plays per game, which is about 23 plays higher than their average from a season ago.

If Florida can control the game with the same up-tempo offense, they have to like their chances to expose some vulnerabilities within the Alabama defense and wear down the Crimson Tide.

3) Win the turnover battle

It’s a football cliche, but it’s still incredibly important for the Gators in Tuscaloosa. So far this season, Alabama and Florida couldn’t be farther apart when it comes to creating turnovers. The Crimson Tide have been surprisingly unable to force many turnovers on defense, recording just one fumble recovery and zero interceptions in their first three games.

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The Gators, on the other hand, have been an aggressive and opportunistic defense against their first two opponents. In two games, Florida has forced eight turnovers – four interceptions and four fumble recoveries. Throughout Muschamp’s 40 games as Florida’s head coach, winning the turnover battle has often meant the difference between a win or a loss.

26 wins: TO margin of plus-32

14 losses: TO margin of minus-24

More than likely, the turnovers for Alabama will have to come from their quarterback. Blake Sims has outplayed Jacob Coker this season, but it’s not like the senior signal caller has been dominant in the first three games. If the Gators are able to frustrate him and apply constant pressure on him, they should be able to force some poor throws from Sims,which they will absolutely need to take advantage of those opportunities when presented.

4) Take advantage of big play opportunities

In 2013, Florida lacked any explosiveness on offense, especially in the passing game, tallying just 21 passing plays of 20 or more yards. This season it’s a whole different story under Roper with the Gators already at one-third of last year’s total. Their seven passing plays of 20 yards or more puts them on pace for nearly 40 explosive passing plays, the most since 2009.

Heading into the game, Alabama’s secondary is the position group with the most question marks. They’re dealing with injuries to Eddie Jackson and Jarrick Williams, two starting defensive backs, and safety Nick Perry is suspended for the first half because of a targeting foul in the previous game. There’s no question they still have a ton of talent in the secondary, but they’ll be forced to rotate more inexperienced players into the rotation than I’m sure Saban would prefer.

RELATED: Matchup breakdown: Gators WR Demarcus Robinson vs. Alabama CB Cyrus Jones

As long as the Gators offensive line can buy enough time for Driskel in the backfield, the Gators should have the opportunities to go downfield throughout the game, especially to their biggest playmaker Demarcus Robinson.

Driskel has struggled connecting with his receivers downfield this season, so the redshirt junior must improve against Alabama or he risks allowing the offense to become too one dimensional. At least a couple big plays should keep the safeties honest and keep them from cheating up towards the line of scrimmage, opening up more area for Florida’s skill players to operate.

When you are a younger team in a raucous environment on the road, the importance of big plays can never be understated. They’ll be a big key to igniting a Florida upset in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

The deck is stacked against the Gators heading into this weekend’s matchup against the Crimson Tide. There’s no doubt that Alabama is the more talented team, but if Florida can accomplish these aspects on Saturday, the Gators can absolutely compete with No. 3 ranked Crimson Tide and perhaps even escape Tuscaloosa with a win.