The LSU-Florida matchup is always a much-anticipated and interesting matchup. This season looks to be no different; both teams are 4-2 on the season, and both teams bring in first-year head coaches. Florida has the leg up with the game being played in Gainesville, but the Tigers have gone into tough environments, like Auburn, and have pulled off the win.
Florida also has momentum heading into this matchup against LSU. The Gators have won two games straight, beating Eastern Washington and Missouri. However, LSU is on the opposite end, as they’re coming off a tough 40-13 loss to Tennessee.
LSU is 2-1 to SEC teams on the season, while Florida is 1-2, dropping games to Kentucky and Tennessee. Florida trailed closely to Tennessee, though, losing against the Volunteers just 33-38. The Gators also opened their season with a huge at-home win against Utah, who was ranked No. 20 at the time.
This will be another tough SEC matchup for LSU. After getting humiliated by Tennessee in front of their home crowd last week, however, the Tigers should be heading into this weekend with the hunger to win.
Florida’s defense has been great in the run stop all season, as the Gators rank fourth in the SEC for total rushing yards given up per game. Safeties Rashad Torrence II and Trey Dean III lead the defense both with over 40 tackles on the season. Linebacker Ventrell Miller also adds 40 tackles of his own. Amari Burney Jr. and Brenton Cox Jr. add over 30 tackles to the season as well.
To put things in perspective, LSU currently has no players on its roster that have exceeded 30 tackles on the season. Defensively, at the very least, the Gators have made themselves known.
With Florida’s ability to stop the run game of opponents they’ve already faced this season, garnering passing yards will be essential for Jayden Daniels. He’s going to have to run the ball. Despite the score against Tennessee saying otherwise, Daniels did throw for 300 yards that game. That being said, he’ll be limited to throwing the ball against Florida, so he has to keep the trend of building trust in his receivers alive in Gainesville.
The main player to focus on for Florida’s offense is quarterback Anthony Richardson. Richardson had a ton of Heisman candidate hype coming into the season, but regardless of that fading away, his talent is evident. The sophomore quarterback has thrown for 1,182 yards on the season, completed 55.9% of his passes, and has thrown for five touchdowns.
Richardson has also thrown seven interceptions on the season. For the LSU defense, giving Richardson minimal time in the pocket and forcing him to make impulsive decisions is how they can shut down Florida’s pass game.
Florida’s run game, however, is also a threat. Similar to LSU, the Gators split their carries between a few backs. With Richardson also being a run threat, as he’s run for 286 yards and five touchdowns on the ground, Montrell Johnson Jr., Trevor Etienne and Nay’Quan Wright all receive the bulk load of carries for the Gators.
The Gators are a run-first team, a type of team LSU hasn’t seen a ton of yet this season. Luckily, limiting Anthony Richardson works for controlling both the passing game and the run game. While the Tigers will still have to control three running backs that Florida frequently uses, halting the quarterback’s control of the game always helps set everything else back.
The Tigers and the Gators are two very evenly matched teams, and the consistency of this matchup year after year is what makes it so special. This is LSU’s third game of the season away from Tiger Stadium, so in order to be on the better side of this game, they’ll have to be accustomed to playing in front of yet another passionate fanbase. After that, they just have to trust in themselves as they did against Mississippi State and Auburn. With that, they can compete.
