BATON ROUGE, La. — Florida and LSU have historically been a demolition derby. Two big, physical teams intent on lining up and running the ball between the tackles, cracking helmets until facemasks pushed into noses and blood dripped down staining chinstraps.
This was not that game.
Saturday in Death Valley was two high-performance Formula 1 racecar offenses zipping up and down the field, each offense executing as if there wasn’t a defense on the field at all. The Gators just ran out of gas before the Tigers.
The Gators suffered their first loss of the season 42-28 in Baton Rouge. All week long the talk had been of the Tigers’ offense. New passing coordinator Joe Brady has helped transform LSU into a passing offense the Cajun faithful have only been able to dream of. The Tigers had the best offense in the country but they hadn’t faced a test like the Gators’ defense would give them Saturday. They passed the test with flying colors.
LSU scored six times, none of those drives and never went over four minutes. 66 yards in two plays. 75 yards in four plays. 80 yards in four plays. LSU had a 100-yard rusher (Clyde Edwards-Helaire) — the first 100-yard rusher Florida has allowed since the Missouri game last year. Joe Burrow threw for 293 yards, Florida hadn’t allowed that many since Josh Dobbs threw for 319 on September 24, 2016.
Florida, to their credit, kept up with them. The Gators didn’t score with the quickness and flash that LSU did but they sustained drives, converted on third downs and moved the ball effectively.
The Gators followed up LSU’s first scoring drive with one of its own. The Gators bit LSU for 17 yards, then 4 and 17 and 11, moving the ball consistently down the field until Kyle Trask found Trevon Grimes in the back of the end zone to tie the game. It was a statement that Florida was going to shoot it out with LSU if that’s what it came down to.
“I think everybody sees it. I think we just came in, you know we did a great job, Coach Mullen called some great plays for us,” Van Jefferson said after the game. “I think we just executed them right and you know we did some things well and it resulted in some touchdowns.”
The Gators’ defense was dealt a blow early on. The Gators were getting Jabari Zuniga back Saturday for the first time since the senior defensive end sprained his ankle against Kentucky. Unfortunately, they lost Jon Greenard in the process. Greenard sprained his ankle at the end of the Auburn game. The grad transfer didn’t practice all week, just worked on rehabbing the ankle in hopes of playing. He tried and couldn’t. The ESPN cameras caught a distraught Greenard on the sideline, his teammates trying to do the impossible and console their sack leader.
“Not having Jon killed our vibe,” Marco Wilson said after the game.
It wasn’t much longer into the game that the Gators would lose Zuniga again to the same left ankle that has cost him most of his senior season.
“I think defensively injury finally caught up to us this year. You know we have been just devastated with injuries,” Dan Mullen said after the game. “I think if finally caught up with us tonight when you lose both of your starting d-ends especially in this type of environment it catches up to you.”
It did on Saturday night. LSU had rushes for 57, 39 and 33-yards on Saturday night with Florida unable to set and hold the edge. The 57-yard rush came on the second drive without Greenard on the field. The next two long rushes came without Greenard and Zuniga.
“It takes the air out of us, really, but the next guy has to step up,” Wilson said. “We need to put it in our mind that guys are going to go down in a game. Guys are not going to be able to go. The next guy needs to be ready to play just as well as the starter.”
The Gators’ season is far from over. Atlanta is still in the picture with a trip to both Columbia’s and a date with the Dawgs in Jacksonville on the horizon.
Florida can still win the east with just a stubbed toe in Baton Rouge to show for it. They have to get healthy but at least for a night, we learned that the offense can carry the team’s water if they need to.