LSU-Florida Aftermath: Talking Tiger Fans Off the Ledge

Running a systems check after a bad crash…

Please know that I'm speaking to LSU fans out there, although all are welcomed to listen.

First off, bulletin board material had nothing to do with the outcome of the LSU-Florida game. So get that out of your head.

Second of all, let’s give credit where credit is due: Florida performed like the team that most knew they were. There’s a reason some Florida fans were making noise about their team in the first month of the season, and it’s because they know the team that showed up Saturday night is their true team.

When you kick the tires and look under the hood, Florida is supposed to own the road. So far in 2008, they didn’t look like it—until the LSU game.

Part of that you can heap on Urban Meyer, who didn’t really open up what the Gator machine could do until this week. Honestly, I think LSU knew the potential and just flat-out could not stop Florida.

This group of Gators is the team most thought would show up this season. While you were picking USC or Georgia or Oklahoma to win the National Championship in August, many others knew that Florida was going to tiptoe through all the preseason hype and come out and dominate.

But a loss to Ole Miss and some subpar stats changed the mind of many, even myself. In the summer I saw this game as a bad loss for LSU, but Florida’s track record this season convinced me that LSU would lose a close one as the game neared.

Still, coming into the game Saturday night, the Gators remained a six-point favorite and were picked to win by everyone who had a voice in the matter.

The eyebrow raiser, however, was the fashion in which Florida beat LSU. Most expected a repeat from last year’s classic, but from the early Danny McCray tip to Percy Harvin on a 3rd-and-12 for the score, I think most saw what was coming—that in fact this would not be LSU’s night.

Florida has the ability (heck, they had it all along) to jump back into the race for the crystal ball.

For LSU, despite what the scoreboard says, this wasn’t a bad loss. It might be hard to wrap your head around that right now, as most LSU fans have been blinded by recent success, but you just can’t bring a redshirt freshman quarterback to Gainesville on a night where the running game gets held in check and expect to win. You just can’t. LSU still controls its own destiny in the SEC West.

Flip to the other side of the ball, and LSU’s defense was just overmatched. If you think about it, though, the defense wasn’t horrible in the first half. Between tipping passes for touchdowns, staying on the field too much because of the inept offense, and allowing no points in the second quarter, the defense just got worn down in the second half.

I don’t think LSU’s game plan was necessarily bad against the Gators—I just don’t think they executed at all. Last year LSU had almost the exact same game plan against Florida, and the Tigers won.

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