Tre’Davious White flung his arm around cornerback Donte Jackson’s shoulder and told him to fix his body language.
On the previous play, Jackson fumbled a kickoff return after LSU’s defense forced a field goal when the Gators marched down the field on a 15-play, 70-yard drive. LSU (6-4, 4-3 Southeastern Conference) was in position to receive the ball back with three timeouts with 4:37 left and it needed four points to win.
But Jackson’s fumble put the defense right back on the field.
“I told him [Jackson] we stop them right here it’s still a one possession game,” White said after LSU’s 16-10 loss. “I told him you have bad body language they’ll throw a pass at you and then the game’s over at that moment. All I was trying to tell him is kept his head up.”
Jackson and LSU’s defense stopped Florida from scoring a touchdown, and held the Gators to a 34-yard field goal.
The 5-foot-11, 173-pound defensive back was also matched up on Florida (8-2, 6-2 SEC) freshman wide receiver Tyrie Cleveland when he caught a 98-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
“He got beat,” said LSU coach Ed Orgeron. “He got beat one-on-one. We talked about one-on-one matchups. Our speeds against their speed.”
“We knew Tyrie Cleveland could run by the guy [Jackson],” McElwain said. “We knew that early.”
For most of Saturday, a void was missing in the middle for LSU’s defense.
Senior linebacker and three-year starter Kendell Beckwith left the game in the second quarter with a knee injury and did not return. The Gators then shifted their game plan to attack the middle of LSU’s defense.
The result: 126 rushing yards. Fifty-seven of those yards came on a 15-play, 70-yard drive with 4:37 left.
“That big body wasn’t in the middle like he usually is,” said junior safety John Battle. “Jordan Scarlett is a great running back. I’ve been watching him for some years. He’s just a hard runner. Also 22, he’s a great runner. Powerful. They have a great backfield.”
Junior linebacker Donnie Alexander replaced Beckwith and tied for the team lead in tackles with eight.
Alexander said replacing Beckwith was “a bit of task,” but said Beckwith told him to just play his game. Afterwhile, though, Alexander did start to notice Florida’s strategy and did not put the blame on the coaches, but the players.
Orgeron noted a jarring amount of missed tackles on defense that allowed Florida running backs to gain extra yards, which isn’t usual for LSU’s defense, Alexander added.
“That’s not really like us,” Alexander said. “We’re going to tighten up on that next week and we’re going to do a better job at it.”
“Very uncharacteristic of them,” Orgeron said. “We emphasized tackling all week. I think missing Kendell in there hurt us a little bit. Uncharacteristically, not a good tackling football team tonight.”
