Florida Falls To LSU and Falls From Grace, But Possibly Finds A Savior In Latest Chapter Of Rivalry

Hail Mary, full of Shorter’s grace, Florida versus LSU, yet again, took us to another circle of Dante’s hell. In the process, there was a teasing promise of a savior, moments that were only explainable by divine intervention and a collapse of epic proportions.

In a game that was about Ed Orgeron’s job versus Dan Mullen’s respect amongst the fan base, two teams on a path to a now identical 4-3 record have taken what is always an insane rivalry game and flipped the trajectory of their season’s once again.

The No. 20 Florida Gators were favored by 12.5, even in a Death Valley home game for LSU. In the end, they lost 49-42, effectively ending any chance of a late season miracle, an end to their streak of New Years Six bowl games and arguably lessening the heat on Orgeron’s seat while turning up the dial on Mullen’s. If this had been the typical Florida-LSU matchup with top ranked opponents, the series of events would be considered an instant classic. Instead, it'll go down as a maddening, insane driven afternoon, befitting of this rivalry.

It took less then two minutes for this game to get weird, as it is so oft to do. After Jordan Pouncey blocked a punt, there was a scrum for the ball. Florida came away with it in decent field position, but a coverage sack on Emory Jones called for an early punt.

The defense answered with a three-and-out, thanks in large part to corner Kaiir Elam, in his return. On the ensuing offensive drive, Mullen went into his bag, calling up a throw back from receiver Trent Whittemore to Emory Jones to move the chains, a dart to Rick Wells and then a run up the gut from running back Dameon Pierce.

The senior would add another touchdown before the day was over, moving him into a tie for first in the SEC with nine rushing touchdowns. He’s scored on a mere 46 rush attempts. Despite the Gators having the best rushing offense in the Power 5, and a windy day in Baton Rouge with gusts of 26 miles per hours on the field, the Gators elected to stay balanced, putting the ball in the air for more than one would assume.

In the first half, 18 pass attempts connected for 12 completions, but two turnovers gave the Tigers 14 points. And the Power 5’s best rushing offense abandoned their running game. One team that found space on the ground was the LSU Tigers. They entered the game 127th in FBS, averaging 83 yards per game on the ground. Florida’s rush defense was 26th in the country and third in the SEC, only allowing 110.83 yards per game.

By day’s end, Ty Davis-Price had put up more rushing yards on a Gators defense than any running back in history, surpassing a stat set by Herschel Walker. Yes, that Herschel Walker.

Davis-Price finished with 287 yards on 36 rushes for three touchdowns, the most yardage ever for any LSU running back...in history. In total, Florida gave up 321 yards on the ground.

“I mean he’s a good back. I just feel like it was a couple yards before anybody had a chance to really hit him, you know,” proposed linebacker Mohamoud Diabate. “That gives you a boost when you have a couple yards and a head start going. I wish it hadn’t been that way. He does a good job running through tackles. He’s a big, strong, guy. He can bounce off tackles, run through gaps, he’s patient sitting way behind his blockers before his blockers so when his blockers do get on a man he explodes through that gap. He’s a real patient, strong runner.”

Diabate went on to say the Tigers ran a couple of things “we hadn’t seen before that we didn’t know were coming.” Those things primarily revolved around the same counter run play, over and over and over and over on a loop like a soul in purgatory, forced to watch their biggest mistake for entirety. So why weren’t there any adjustments made?

“I mean we made the adjustments we were given to make,” stated Diabate.

An applicant for the Rhodes Scholar, Diabate carefully steps through and around words, saying what needs to be said without saying anything wrong. He put on a masterclass following the defense performance versus LSU.

For example, was there anything else that could have been done to address the LSU run game?

“Honestly I don’t know. That’s not my decision to make. I don’t look into those things. I’m like a soldier. When the general tells me where to shoot I shoot. I don’t really ask too many questions. That’s y’all’s job…It seemed like they were hitting with a similar scheme, kind of counter run. We had whoever we had in the box so we had to play it how we played it.”

Does he have confidence in the defensive scheme?

“I’m confident in my teammates and my teammates ability to play hard and be where they’re supposed to be. I’m confident in my teammates.”

Of course, this is Florida-LSU, so even with what appeared to be a defensive collapse, this game still provided ample drama, up to the final second. The defense gave up a 71-yard touchdown that was called back for holding. STAR Tre’Vez Johnson almost killed a guy on a hard pass break-up.

There were taunting calls which helped extend Gators offensive drives, blocked point after attempts, back-to-back interceptions from separate Gator quarterbacks for the first time since John Brantley and Jeff Driskel did so in 2010, a pick-six that got Emory Jones (12-19, 161 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, 10 rushes for 16 yards) benched in favor of Anthony Richardson (10-19, 167 yards, three touchdowns, two interceptions, seven rushes for 37 yards and a touchdown) and the previously referenced Hail Mary.

With 0:29 seconds left in the first half, the Gators took the ball back with 77-yards to drive. After two chunk plays from Justin Shorter and Rick Wells, Florida lined up on the 42-yard line with five seconds to half, down by 15. Jones dropped back, scrambled and sent a Hail Mary to the end zone.

The Tigers were prepared for the shot. They dropped eight and had four in a half-moon around Shorter. But the receiver simply stepped to his left, as heads turned to look for the ball elsewhere, and hauled in the touchdown as time expired in the half.

“It was just, it was just focus,” described Shorter. “I just see the ball into my hands, just like, you know, coach, he teaches us every single day. It was just a great play. We were just looking for that thing to get us to spring to the second half.”

But after Jones pick-six in the second half, Richardson was inserted back behind center. He immediately led an eight play, 75-yard touchdown drive that ended with him running up the gut for the five-yard score himself.

Jones would re-enter the game only once more the rest of the day, and it was in a huge moment. After Richardson’s finger was jammed on a play, Jones came on the field and threw an 18-yard shot to Shorter to convert a crucial 3rd-and-13. Dan Mullen called it the most important offensive play of the day.

“You just see the maturity of Emory. I don’t think anybody can understand how big of a play that was, that Emory made for a quarterback. In that situation to come up and make that play that he made, that was probably the play of the game, for us offensively. The ability to come in and do that, I thought was pretty special.”

Still, Richardson’s four straight touchdown drives were beyond special, including a 33-yard dart to Jacob Copeland that indicate just how long of a career the Gainesville native can have in this sport. And though Mullen has been coy all season about giving Richardson too much responsibility too early, it’s clear the tide has changed with the redshirt freshman.

“I think it's the execution of it and some things he missed. I thought he did a really good job. He was in there, he got hot and so we kind of stuck with him because he was kind of hot and I think we had some momentum offensively,” Mullen said of Richardson.

“I think it’s good building for Anthony. Anthony had some confidence early, kind of got a little taste of reality. Had to build some calluses there over the last couple weeks. I think this will continue to build his confidence going forward.”

“The conversation with me and Emory, he’s like, ‘Go out there and do your thing. Go out there and play ball.’ Because that’s what we both know how to do,” shared Richardson.

On the final drive though, Richardson tossed his second interception of the day—a prayer on a scramble that an older quarterback would have known to throw away. That’s what he’ll be thinking about as the Gators slide into a bye week at 4-3 with a date with No. 1 Georgia on the horizon.

“Internally, I’m battling myself: I can’t let everybody down. Everybody trusts me in that situation and I didn’t fulfill it. So it’s just a matter of fact not letting people down.”

Richardson will use the bye week to work on what he sees are the decencies in his game.

“I feel like I prepare right, but not having that much experience out there when it comes to game time, just managing the game. Sometimes, I still think it’s like, it’s just high school, I can still make this play. But obviously we see that’s not the case.

“But managing the game I think that’s still a major thing I can work on. Also, keeping my emotions in check. I’m a very emotional guy. I’m very competitive. I love to win. When things don’t go my way, I get down on myself, I’m too hard on myself. I feel like I can further work on that.”

As Mullen and the Gators prepared for the long plane ride back to Gainesville, knowing they’ll have to spend the next week looking into themselves and all that’s gone wrong, the coach—who will drop out of the Top 25 for the first time since he arrived in 2018—left fans with a message.

“We’re all frustrated. We’re still grinding away. Look at LSU. They were facing a bunch of adversity last week. They came out and played really well today, created four turnovers on the defensive side of the ball. To go and run the ball. This is the SEC, you have to bring your A-game every single week.

“From what I see the majority of our fans, we have some of the best fans in the country the Gator Nation. The positivity they have, the support they give to the team is really amazing. I appreciate all their support and what they do and continue to back everybody in the program. All our fans, everybody, our students, I think they do an amazing job."