Five takeaways from Florida’s shootout loss at LSU in Week 11
Florida came up short in a shootout in Baton Rouge Saturday night, 52-35.
LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels led the Tigers’ offense to over 700 yards of total offense. Daniels added to his Heisman resume with 372 passing yards and three touchdowns while adding another 234 yards and two scores on the ground. Florida defense was completely outclassed, but two early stops in the first quarter kept things closer than it should have been.
Slowly, the game began to slip away from the Gators, but Trevor Etienne, Graham Mertz and Ricky Pearsall did their best to keep the score close. Outmatched in all three phases of the game, Florida eventually crumbled and fell to 5-5 on the season.
Here’s what we learned from the loss.
Florida is a running team
At the end of the day, it was always the run game that would give Florida a chance to be successful this season. The Gators might not have come away with the win on Saturday, but the tandem of Trevor Etienne and Montrell Johnson Jr. were excellent against LSU.
Etienne led the way with 99 yards and three touchdowns, while Johnson added 70 more yards on 16 carries. The two averaged nearly a combined 5 yards per carry and kept Florida in the fight until the very end.
Graham Mertz is a great game manager, but the run game needs to be rocking for Florida to have a chance in competitive games.
Bend, don't break.
The defense is not great… but they seem to answer early, even when short-handed. Arkansas went up 14-0 a week ago, and LSU drove down the field seemingly at will to kick off this one.
The Gators don’t stay in this game as long as they did without coming up with two massive stops in the first quarter, forcing two turnovers on downs. There’s certainly not a lot of room for praise when it comes to the defense this week, but that fight in the opening quarter kept things interesting when it could have been a blowout.
If Austin Armstrong can get the defense to play the whole game like it plays the first quarter, Florida might have a chance to upset Missouri or Florida State. If not, UF is missing the postseason.
Tackling is still a big issue
There’s a lot wrong with this defense, but the most glaring issue on Saturday was the inability to tackle opponents on first contact. John Emery Jr. was running all the Gators before he was injured, and Jayden Daniels picked up right where he left off afterward.
Daniels finished with 234 yards on the ground and two scores, and Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. each hauled in six catches for 130+ yards. Plenty of those yards came after the catch and after Florida had a chance to tackle them.
LSU’s offense is prolific, but Florida’s porous defense made Daniels and Co. look unstoppable. Missed tackles are bound to happen now and then, but Florida needed three guys to take down one LSU player. Embarrassing.
Ricky Pearsall is going to make some NFL coach SO happy
Ricky Pearsall might not be in the same league as Malik Nabers, but he’s going to make some NFL offensive coordinator very happy over the next few years. Pearsall has come up big for the Gators all year, and we already know he’s capable of reeling in some highlight catches.
But Pearsall impact goes beyond the big play. He’s dependable, versatile and always there whenever Graham Mertz needs to be bailed out. Pearsall isn’t the Calvin Johnson type of receiver that will go over defenders’ heads to make them look silly, but he’s more than capable of carving a defender up and getting the first down the team needs.
If Pearsall gets paired with a Bill Belichick kind of coach at the next level, he could end up something truly special.
Maybe there's a chance?
There’s not a lot of confidence across Gator Nation right now, but putting up 35 points and staying in a game against No. 18 LSU until the fourth quarter is encouraging in many ways. Florida was supposed to lose this game, badly.
If you told anyone that LSU put up 700 yards of offense, the expectation would be a blowout. But that’s not what we got. The offense is capable of scoring enough to beat most teams. It’s the defense that needs work, and that’s not really news. It’s been the story for the better part of four years, and it’s up to Billy Napier to fix it by the start of next season.
Injuries are going to make it tough, but Florida has two more shots at bowl eligibility — at Missouri next week and vs. Florida State in the season finale. This offense can pull off the upset.
Read more
Sunday Hash: Breaking down what went right, wrong for Florida at LSU
Pat Dooley’s Six Pack: Instant reactions to Florida’s loss at LSU Tigers
Five takeaways from Florida’s shootout loss at LSU in Week 11
Twitter reacts to Florida’s slugfest loss to LSU Tigers in Week 11
PHOTOS: Highlights from Florida football’s loss at LSU Tigers
Follow
Follow us @GatorsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
