In a battle of Top 25 teams, the #10 LSU Tigers came out victorious over the #17 Florida Gators by a score of 17-6. The Gator offense was lacking as they only managed a pair of field goals on the day. They rushed for a total of 111 yards and could just not get the ball moving against a stingy LSU defense. Tyler Murphy completed 15 of 27 passes for 129 yards but his longest pass was only 20 yards long. He was sacked four times on the day as the Gator offensive line did a subpar job at protecting their quarterback. To add more salt to the wound, sophomore running back Matt Jones sustained a knee injury during the game and will miss the remainder of the season. He had four rushes on the day for 17 yards.
The Gator defense did about everything right on Saturday by giving up giving up only 17 points to an LSU team that scored 41 on Georgia. They did not force any turnovers, but they did jump on a fumble committed by LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger. This game proved that the Gators' defense cannot bail them out all the time, especially when they cannot even get into the end zone. Fortunately, this loss is not as bad as it seems. LSU is in the SEC West division and the Gators are in the East. If the Gators win out, they can still go to the SEC Championship Game. Of course that is easier said than done with opponents like Missouri, Georgia, and South Carolina coming up. In the National Championship picture, it looks like the clock has hit midnight for the Gators. I will note though that in the 2007 season an LSU team with two losses did make it to the National Championship Game and won it as well.
The Gators still have a lot of football left to play, they just need to find a way to get the running game going. It also would not hurt to open up the passing game more. Against Arkansas, senior receiver Solomon Patton had six catches for two touchdowns. Against LSU, he had just three catches for 32 yards. I have full confidence in Tyler Murphy and I think coach Will Muschamp needs to give his junior quarterback a little more freedom. To be successful and survive this tough stretch coming up, the Gators will need to find a way to get their big play makers involved more. How they plan to do that is beyond me to say. The Missouri game on the road next week will be no cakewalk as the Tigers found a way to upset #7 Georgia on the road. The Gators are in the unfamiliar role of underdog and it will be interesting to see how they react to that position. With Missouri's star quarterback James Franklin out for the remainder of the season due to a shoulder injury, I give the Gators a good fighting chance in Columbia this Saturday.
*Stats accredited to Gatorzone.com
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