Delayed by the incoming threat of Hurricane Matthew from its previously scheduled date of Oct. 8, No. 16 LSU and No. 23 Florida’s face off — formalized through less than cordial negotiations with the Southeastern Conference league office — will finally take place at noon on Saturday.
And now, in Game 10, both teams have much more to lose.
The Tigers (6-3, 4-2 SEC) have a chance to solidify the SEC’s seat in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2 by winning their remaining two games — beginning with the Gators (7-2, 5-2 SEC) Saturday.
The Gators have an opportunity to propel themselves to the SEC Championship on Dec. 3 against top-ranked, undefeated Alabama.
“We know about their record,” LSU coach Ed Orgeron said Monday. “We know what they have on the line. It’s not about them. It’s going to be about us.”
To make Saturday’s cross-division kickoff even juicier: both teams will trot out quarterbacks from, originally, the same school — the “Purdue Bowl” as it’s being monikered. And Florida and LSU’s quarterbacks have stayed friends since.
“I’ll probably send him a text here tonight, early in the week, just wish him luck, wish him the best,” Gator quarterback Austin Appleby said Monday to reporters in Gainesville. “He’s done the same for me all season.”
As Purdue transfers swapping to lead their respective teams, LSU’s Danny Etling and Florida’s Appleby will start for their respective schools.
“That is kind of bizarre, isn’t it?” Florida coach Jim McElwain said. “They’re both playing. Their guy, you know, I’m not going there. That’s pretty cool, I guess.”
Although the two gunslingers may be buddies, oh boy, do these two teams dislike each other.
Amid the re-negotiations to delay the game from Oct. 8 to Saturday, Florida was rumored to be “scared” to play LSU.
“Obviously, they don’t know me,” McElwain said after the rumors surfaced more than a month ago. “They don’t know the Florida Gators, they don’t know our players. Dodging the game? Wow.”
“Yeah, that part bothered me a little bit,” Florida safety Nick Washington said earlier this week. “They think we had a choice of avoiding this game when there’s a hurricane. Not just me but a lot of my teammates, a lot of us had family in places where the hurricane was hitting. It kind of bothered us a little bit, but we had to let it go.”
To better LSU’s chances of bumping the Gators off track toward the SEC Championship, Florida is guaranteed to be without six starters, including defensive back Marcus Maye (broken arm), who was the receiver of a punch-like stiff arm from junior tailback Leonard Fournette in LSU’s 35-28 win versus the then-No. 8 Gators last season.
Three other Gator starters — defensive lineman CeCe Jefferson, offensive linemen Tyler Jordan and David Sharpe — are game-time decisions for Saturday’s noon kickoff.
Orgeron said Leonard Fournette — in possibly his last home game at Tiger Stadium — still had a sore ankle on Monday. After coming up gimpy toward the end of LSU’s win against Arkansas, the Tigers’ junior, draft-eligible tailback is good to go on Saturday, Orgeron said Thursday in a post-practice news conference.
“He should be fine,” the coach said. “I think he’s going to be fine.”
Credit: Melissa Smith / Independent Florida Alligator
