GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida is 4-0 this season and seems pretty likely to get to 5-0 ahead of a monster Top 10 showdown with Auburn in the Swamp.

Listen to Dan Mullen at various points over the past few weeks and you might be shocked to learn that. Mullen has pointed out numerous times that his team is extremely banged up and simply has to stay healthy to accomplish its goals this season.

While the sheer number of mentions of the team's numerous injuries might be alarming, it's actually pretty impressive that the Gators don't really seem to have missed a beat. Florida might even be better off for it long-term.

"The theory is injury creates depth, meaning that sometimes you play guys more than you would because you’re forced to," defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said. "When other guys come back all of a sudden you’ve got a little more depth. We’ll continue to take that philosophy and play with the guys we’ve got."

Grantham's defense has been far more ravaged by injury than Mullen's offense.

Already Grantham has played without cornerback CJ Henderson for about two and a half games and defensive end Jabari Zuniga for a game and a half. Those are arguably the top two players on the defense.

He's also played two games without linebacker Amari Burney, a game without safety Jeawon Taylor and now linebacker Ventrell Miller is dinged up (and his timeline for return and the severity of the shoulder injury unclear). Before the season ever began, defensive tackle Elijah Conliffe was lost for the year. Still, Florida's been able to manage defensively.

"We've done a good job of the next guy up coming in to play," coach Dan Mullen said Wednesday on an SEC teleconference call. "If we can get healthy, we possibly could be an elite defense. We've had just so many injuries that we've had to deal with, but our guys have come up and the next guy up comes to play."

Despite all the injuries, though, Florida ranks 10th in the nation in scoring defense and 23rd in total defense.

Grantham's getting production out of plenty of young players, both in the secondary and in the trenches. To date, the injuries to Henderson and Zuniga haven't proven costly. Both are on the mend and seem like they might be able to play against Auburn.

Even when they do return, Florida's got a better idea now of what the younger players can handle.

"They’ve done a good job," Grantham said. "When you look at the corners, they’ve all really progressively gotten better. I’ve been pleased with their progress. When you look up front, Khris (Bogle) and Mohamoud (Diabate) have both done a good job, being able to get some quality reps and give us some production.

"I think we’ve done a good job of working together to get better every week. Not just on the playing field, in the games we have, but also the way we prepare, kind of understanding our roles and how we may have to play because guys are playing in more than one spot. Overall, I’ve been pleased with our progress and what we’ve done. We’ve got to continue to work and improve. Really, it’s about us getting better every week to play to our standard."

Mullen knows his team rides a fine line when it comes to injuries; you always do in the Southeastern Conference.

So far Florida has managed. If it gets a little luck on the injury front, the Gators could contend in the SEC East.

"I've also seen us get better from one week to the next," Mullen said. "Hopefully by the end of the year we are an elite defense.

"You look at success in college football, so much is based on health. Teams that have a high success rate stay healthy through a large part of the year. So hopefully so far we've seen the worst of our injuries and now we just get healthier as the year goes on."