LSU football lost its third straight game on Saturday to what was previously a hapless and injury-ridden Florida squad.
It’s the first time the Tigers have had such a streak since 2021, and it marks the continuation of a brutal turn for the worse for LSU’s season.
The No. 22 Tigers will likely drop out of the Top 25 rankings entirely, and head coach Brian Kelly said the team’s focus will now shift to making sure it has “fighters” out on the field.
“If you’re not somebody that’s saying, ‘I’m going to work and continue to work to be better,’ then we don’t have a place for you in the last few weeks,” Kelly said.
Here are three takeaways from the performance.

LSU has struggled mightily finishing drives

Since halftime of the Texas A&M game three weeks ago, LSU has had 15 drives that went into opponent territory. Just three of those have finished in touchdowns.
Kelly said after the Florida game that one of his biggest takeaways was that LSU needs to do better in the red zone.
“We haven’t made enough plays down there,” Kelly said.
Against Florida, LSU settled three times for field goals after reaching the 30-yard line. Each time, the drive was derailed by penalties or sacks.
Perhaps the failed possession that was the toughest to stomach came in the third quarter when fifth-year wide receiver CJ Daniels scored a touchdown that was called back due to offensive pass interference. The touchdown would’ve given LSU the lead; instead, the Tigers were faced with a 3rd-and-24 that they found difficult to convert.
LSU greatly outdid Florida in time of possession, first downs gained and yards amassed. The Tigers also had a solid 54.2% third down conversion rate on the day.
The team had no trouble sustaining drives; finishing them off was the glaring issue.
“They don’t give you a pat on the back because you had the ball longer or had first downs,” Kelly said.

Garrett Nussmeier threw zero interceptions, but it was another rough performance anyway

Redshirt junior quarterback Garrett Nussmeier has come under fire over the last few weeks for his risky decision-making that has led to interceptions, but he had none against Florida.
However, another issue came to light: Nussmeier’s ball security when being hit in the pocket. He fumbled the ball twice on Saturday, and both times the ball went to the Gators.
Nussmeier faced much more pressure on Saturday than at any other point during the season. Heading into the game, he’d only been sacked six times. Florida took him down seven times in one day.
Kelly said although the pass protection struggled, there was blame to go around, including to Nussmeier, who needed to get the ball out quicker and make better judgments on protection pre-snap.
“We have to look at it in its entirety,” Kelly said. “Did the ball come out when it needed to? Did we protect the way we needed to?”
The pressure forced Nussmeier to throw on the run and off-platform on many occasions, which didn’t help LSU’s offense.

LSU’s defense is still not equipped to carry the team to wins

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the LSU defense had held Florida to 13 points. It was by all accounts an improvement on the unit’s recent outings against Texas A&M and Alabama.
However, the defense got no support from LSU’s offense, which twice gave Florida the ball in LSU territory off of turnovers. The offense’s inability to finish drives put even more pressure on the defense to hold strong and win the game for the Tigers.
That’s too big of an ask for this LSU defense, which, while leaps and bounds better than last year’s unit, is still not ready to carry the team.
The Tigers slipped badly in the second half, allowing six plays of 15 yards or more. Giving up explosive plays turned out to be the defense’s undoing.