One play can remedy a lifetime of pain.
LSU coach Les Miles’ call to have senior quarterback Jordan Jefferson throw the ever-loathed jump pass with 12:20 remaining in the fourth quarter of LSU’s 41-11 drubbing of Florida put many of those evil ghosts to rest for good.
LSU fans have lived with horrid memories of the Steve Spurrier era for years. The remnants of 58-3, 41-9 and 56-13 beatdowns haunt them like a bad dream.
The Ol’ Ball Coach poured on the points with no regard for the debris he left behind. He went 11-1 against the Tigers at Florida from 1990 to 2001 and outscored LSU by a combined total of 421-145.
Every year — sans the 1997 upset — was the same old story. Spurrier’s “Fun ‘N Gun” offense would run roughshod through an outmanned and outcoached LSU team. It was 60 minutes of inhumane torture and public humiliation.
When Spurrier finally fled The Swamp for the NFL’s supposed greener pastures, the Tiger faithful thought the reign of terror was finally coming to an end. The Gators hired Ron Zook to be their head coach and he immediately led them to mediocrity.
Zook’s crowning achievement as Florida’s head man came in 2003 when he upset No. 6 LSU, 19-7, in Death Valley with true freshman Chris Leak under center.
LSU would go on to win the national title that season, but the Florida hiccup caused the Associated Press poll to name one-loss Southern California No. 1.
After Zook was relieved of his duties in 2004, Urban Meyer stepped into his role as head Swamp Monster.
Meyer led the Gators back to among the nation’s elite. He won a national championship in 2006 — just his second year at the helm.
During the 2006 campaign, Meyer’s crew hosted LSU in Gainesville, Fla. With the game tied 7-7 and nearing halftime, Florida trotted out highly touted freshman quarterback Tim Tebow with the ball on the LSU 1-yard line.
Tebow took the snap, made like he was going to run up the middle for a touchdown, but pulled up, jumped up in the air and tossed the ball over the crowd of linemen to tight end Tate Casey for a touchdown. The unconventional touchdown play gave Florida a lead it would never surrender.
The Gators won the game, 23-10, and the jump pass went down like a gulp of spoiled milk for the Tiger fans. It sat in their stomachs and continued to fester and rot.
It would take a special win against the Gators to finally feel avenged.
Jefferson’s toss to senior tight end Mitch Joseph culminated the healing process.
It was pure poetic justice. The only way it could have been a better fit would have been if Meyer was on the opposite sideline to receive the payback.
But better than that play was the way LSU played from start to finish.
Minus a small lapse in focus early in the third quarter, the Tigers looked like one of Spurrier’s teams from the 1990s. They smelled blood on the Florida sideline and feasted.
LSU out-gained Florida 453-213 in total yardage and picked up 20 first downs to Florida’s nine.
And the score could have been worse.
The Tigers ran a fake punt with freshman punter Brad Wing that went 52 yards for a touchdown, but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Wing nullified it. The Tigers settled for a field goal instead of a touchdown on the drive.
Saturday’s win was LSU’s largest margin of victory against the Gators since a 48-7 win in 1971.
The closest the Tigers have come to thoroughly dominating Florida in recent history was in 2002 when the Tigers stormed out of The Swamp with a 36-7 victory.
But that game still has a cloud of negativity surrounding it.
With the game in the fourth quarter and LSU in full control, quarterback Matt Mauck scrambled up the middle and broke his foot in the process. Mauck was out for the season, and LSU finished the year 3-4 in his absence.
Saturday had no setback. It was just an exorcism from the demons that have been floating around for more than two decades.
Seeing Miles and company go for the jugular against the Orange and Blue was a sight that left everyone from current Florida coach Will Muschamp to Spurrier forced to tip their cap (or visor).
Rob Landry is a 23-year old mass communication senior from Mandeville. Follow him on Twitter @RobLandry85.
 
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Contact Rob Landry at [email protected]