Florida Gators need rare SEC West road win at LSU

43 days after they were supposed to meet in Gainesville, the No. 21 Florida Gators (7-2, 5-2) will travel to Baton Rouge to take on the No. 16 LSU Tigers(6-3, 4-2) in Death Valley.

The Gators and Tigers were originally scheduled to kick off in Gainesville on October 8 but the game was postponed due to the impact Hurricane Matthew had on the east coast of Florida and the potential damage it could have had in Gainesville. The postponement turned ugly, with a public back-and-forth between the school’s Athletic Directors, fans and even players on social media.

In the end LSU AD Joe Alleva held firm that LSU would not lose a home game or travel back to Gainesville to make up the missed date Florida was forced to give in. It was the only decision the Gators, who needed to play all eight-conference games to be eligible for the SEC Championship — something they can accomplish with a win this weekend in Baton Rouge.

Missing the game entirely seemed, at one point, a real possibility but the impact that would have had on the Florida-LSU rivalry as well as the perception of the Southeastern Conference and integrity of the league would have been irreparable.

“The thing that I thought that would really hurt the game is if you don’t play the game, you lose everything college football is all about – and that’s fair play,” former LSU defensive tackle Marcus Spears said last week. “We got this stuff set up so everybody has the equal chances to lose and equal chances to win. If you were to take that game away, you’re slighting Tennessee, you’re slighting Florida and you’re slighting LSU.”

Florida will get a raw deal this season. The Gators lost two home games (LSU & Presbyterian) and will have to finish its season with back-to-back road games. The negotiation to move the game to Baton Rouge included stipulations that the game would not be kicked off later than 2:30 local time (kickoff will be at noon CT) and that LSU would return to Gainesville in 2017 and 2018.

Still, Jim McElwain noted the Gators will be “playing a home game on the road” this week in his post game press conference following a win over South Carolina. Spears, who played at LSU for four seasons and then nine in the NFL doesn’t view the venue as a big sticking point.

“Where the game is played it matters to fans and all of that, but as a football player it shouldn’t matter. It’s 53 ⅓ wide and 100 long and you have to make sure whatever element you’re in you’re at your best,” he said. “If we talk stadium and crowd noise and all of that, I have never been to a game in my career where a fan came out of the stands and changed the effect of the game – not one time.”

“I’ve been in some loud ones. I’ve played here. I’ve played in all of them. Not one time has anyone gone on television and said, ‘Man, the crowd was loud. That’s why we lost.’ So for everybody try to feed you all the home field advantage, whatever it is you want to call it, for football players that are in their uniforms if you’re thinking about home field advantage you’re in the wrong business.”

That may be true but the fact of the matter is the Gators have flat out played bad football on the road against SEC West teams recently. Florida’s last road game against a west opponent was a 31-10 drubbing against Arkansas and it’s been four full years since the Gators went out west and came back with a win. The Gators haven’t won in Baton Rouge since October 10, 2009 when Tim Tebow led the then No. 1 ranked Gators into Baton Rouge coming off of a week filled with uncertainty as he recovered from a concussion. LSU is on a current three-game winning streak, its longest streak since the Tigers won four-straight from 1977-1980.

The stakes couldn’t be higher for this game. Win and you have a date with Alabama for the SEC Championship the first weekend in December. Lose and you’ll be rooting for Vanderbilt to upset Tennessee on the final weekend of the regular season.

“I mean just go take care of business,” McElwain said of the opportunity to go and play for the SEC East championship this week. “Obviously that’s one of your goals when you start, and yet. Yeah we’ll put a plan together, get on the bus and we’ll show up.”

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC