For one night at least, LSU looked like a Top 10 football team. They went toe-to-toe with the heavily-favored Gators and came out on top despite several obstacles.
It's been a very tough season for the defending champs but Saturday night was definitely the high point.
In the end, it was all made possible by a Florida player being penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct late in the game. After LSU was seemingly stopped and being forced to punt, Gator Marco Wilson picked up Kole Taylor's shoe, which had come off during the run.
The penalty extended the drive and led to the eventual game winner by Cade York, who hit a 57-yard kick. A Florida 51-yarder at game's end was off the mark.
"It was a break, we needed a break and we got a break," said LSU head coach Ed Orgeron.
Max Johnson threw three touchdown passes in his first college start, mixing in some mid-range passes with some opportunistic runs. He finished 21 of 36 for 239 yards and he had 18 rushes for 52 yards. A few of his passes flirted with, but avoided disaster.
York drilled his kick through the dense fog and the uprights. Trask got the Gators in position to tie it, but Evan McPherson was wide left from 51 yards on the final play. LSU celebrated wildly all over the field.
“I told them if we beat Florida this could be the building blocks to turning around our program,” Orgeron said. “It gives us confidence. We’re building a championship team.”
That's the line Orgeron has maintained as the team that went 15-0 has looked anything but championship-level all season long. The record number of departures to the NFL and the number of opt-outs of players expected to be drafted this year - along with injuries to the starting quarterback are all reasons the Tigers have struggled.
However, given the yearly top-5 ranking in recruiting, one would have expected not quite the historic fall.
Meanwhile, Kyle Trask and No. 6 Florida look nowhere near ready for top-ranked Alabama.
The Tigers, on the other hand, one week after a horrible loss to the Tide, showed they still have the ingredients to be competitive.
