FLORIDA 27, No. 21 LSU 16
What Occurred
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The return of Florida freshman quarterback DJ Lagway ignited each the underdog Gators and energized the homefield Saturday in a 27-16 upset of Twenty first-ranked LSU of their Southeastern Convention showdown at Spurrier/Florida Area.
Lagway, out with a hamstring harm because the first half of the Georgia sport two weeks in the past, handed for 226 yards and a rating and rookie classmate Jadan Baugh had a 55-yard game-sealing landing run with just below 4 minutes remaining. The Florida protection, in the meantime, was no bystander. Although Tigers quarterback Garrett Nussmeier was on the sector for twice so long as Lagway and the UF offense, the Gators did a bend-don’t-break quantity on the guests in holding the nation’s seventh-best passing offense (322.3 yards per sport) largely in verify and sacking Nussmeier, one of many best-protected QBs within the nation, seven occasions occasions for 49 yards.
Nussmeier completed 27 of 47 for 260 yards, with a landing and a fumble. Lagway, who had a first-quarter landing strike of 23 yards to wideout Elijhah Badger (6 catches, 131 yards), accomplished 13 of his 26 makes an attempt with no turnover or a sack. LSU out-gained UF in whole offense 382 yards to 339 and had the ball for 41:13 to Florida’s 18:17, however the Gators made extra out of their 5 single-digit scoring drives than the Tigers (13 of 24 on third down, 2-for-4 on fourth) did with their 4 scoring drives of double digits.
LSU ran 93 performs to only 42 for Florida.
The win snapped a five-game dropping streak for the Gators of their sequence with the Tigers that dates to 1937. Florida’s final win in opposition to LSU was a 27-19 victory right here in 2018.
UF took the primary lead of the sport when Lagway lobbed a phenomenal back-shoulder landing go to Badger to go up 7-0. LSU matched the rating with a 14-play, 84-yard scoring drive, changing 4 third downs alongside the best way, together with three of them of not less than 9 yards, with the final a 28-yard strike from Nussmeier to Aaron Anderson halfway via the interval.
Each groups added discipline targets within the second quarter, with Trey Smack’s 49-yarder giving the Gators a 10-7 edge with 3:27 to play within the half and Damian Ramos tying the sport with a 50-yard with 10 seconds to play earlier than intermission.
The Tigers took their first lead, 13-10, on Ramos’s 45-yard discipline at 5:54 of the third. Nussmeir, after surviving a sack/fumble inside his 10, drove his offense 62 yards, changing two extra third-and-longs and appeared to have transformed a 3rd, however his 13-yard TD go to Anderson on third-and-9 was referred to as again for offensive go interference. LSU couldn’t convert on third-and-23 and Ramos put his workforce momentarily in entrance.
The Gators threatened on their subsequent possession, shifting to LSU 34 on a pair good Lagway-to-Badger completions. However a holding penalty, adopted by a delay penalty, put the offense delayed. Smack bailed the unit out with a 55-yard discipline objective that tied for the third-longest in program historical past, and tied the rating at 13 with 3:07 left within the interval. UF had an opportunity to take the lead by recovering a fumble on the LSU 34, however after a delay penalty on first down the Gators misplaced three yards over the subsequent three snaps and needed to punt the ball away. Area place, although, could be key.
The UF protection, once more, thwarted Nussmeier on a third-and-long, with George Gumbs Jr. developing with a sack on the LSU 5, forcing the Tigers to punt from their finish zone on the primary play of the fourth quarter. On the third play of the quarter, Lagway hit Badger with a 36-yard rope to the LSU 1 and Ja’Kobi Jackson scored the go-ahead TD on the subsequent play for a 20-13 lead with 13:58 remaining.
Nussmeier once more put collectively an extended drive (15 performs, 54 yards), however the Tigers needed to accept a 3rd Ramos discipline objective, this one from 34 yards, that made the rating 20-16 with 5:18 remaining.
On UF’s ensuing possession Lagway threw a second-down completion of 19 yards to tight finish Hayden Hansen. On the subsequent play, Baugh (6 carries, 65 yards) took a handoff off Lagway’s misdirection, hit the left facet of the road, received the sting and out-raced the LSU protection up the sideline for his career-long run and decisive landing with 3:48 to go.
What it Means
The Gators, with their third win in opposition to a ranked opponent in Coach Billy Napier‘s three seasons, are one win from bowl eligibility. The victory additionally evened the all-time sequence between the 2 groups at 34-34-3.
Within the Highlight
Assume the freshman quarterback makes a distinction?
Staggering Statistic
Coming into the sport, LSU ranked fourth within the nation (and first within the SEC) in sacks allowed, having surrendered simply six. Florida received that, plus yet one more.
Up Subsequent
The Gators (5-5, 3-4) will wrap up their dwelling schedule and SEC slate with a Saturday midday date in opposition to No. 10 Ole Miss (8-2, 4-2), which stays within the thick of the School Soccer Playoff combine. The Rebels, who upset No. 2 Georgia final week, might be coming off a bye week after they come to city. LSU (6-4, 3-3), which dropped its third straight, performs Vanderbilt at dwelling.
E-mail Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu