Welcome everyone to the latest game preview for the LSU Tigers! This week, we take a look at LSU’s game against the Florida Gators.
Last Week: Florida improved to 3-1 and 3-0 in the SEC with a 38-24 victory over Vanderbilt. This was without Luke Del Rio, who was ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a shoulder injury in the first half.
Meanwhile, LSU fell to Troy in stunning fashion 24-21 thanks to a strong effort from Trojans running back Jordan Chunn.
Last Meeting: The last time these two teams faced off, the ballgame wound up being moved to Baton Rouge after Hurricane Matthew postponed the matchup to one of the final games of the season. The Gators defense held Derrius Guice at the endzone on a fourth and goal at the one-yard line as time expired to give Florida a 16-10 victory. The Gators do lead the overall series 32-28-3, but LSU has won six of the last ten games.
Storylines to Watch:
How Many Lives Do the Gators Have? At first glance, the Florida Gators seem to be a very good team after starting off the season with a 33-17 loss to Michigan. It’s when you look at each and every win they have you see a recurring theme: they come away with a win late in the ballgame.
If Florida wants to improve to 4-0 in SEC play, they’ll need to find another life because the Tigers should be amped up for this game considering everything that happened last year.
Franks Has a Lot to Prove: After Luke Del Rio went down with an injury last week against Vanderbilt; it was time for former LSU commit Feliepe Franks to take over and he took care of business against Vanderbilt with three touchdowns in the second half.
While the Commodores haven’t been a truly good team in the SEC in quite some time, the Gators now have a freshman leading the offense against the Tigers defense that has declared itself “DBU”. That moniker seems fitting for this defense especially with a player like Greedy Williams. He has shown an innate ability to pick off quarterbacks at will early on in his career.
If Franks wants to show the Tigers what they’re missing out on, he’ll need to figure out a way to keep Williams isolated.
Etling or Brennan? The question of which quarterback will be the starter seems to be the right choice for an SEC game of this caliber. Having Danny Etling be the starter isn’t a knock on Myles Brennan. It’s more because of Etling’s experience against these type of opponents on the road. Head coach Ed Orgeron stated that he will be out there for the entirety of the game unless an injury pops up.
It seems like Orgeron has learned from what Les Miles did in 2014 when Brandon Harris had his first start as a freshman against Auburn on the road. That experiment didn’t end well for him and shows that you can’t put in a freshman in that kind of environment after having him only get limited snaps beforehand.
LSU Will Win If:
The Tigers can pull off the upset if the offense can get out of the slumber they’ve been in since the Mississippi State game. The defensive effort has been there, but it seems like the offense isn’t in lock step. It may have something to do with there being some trouble in paradise with Orgeron and Matt Canada butting heads last week, but that shouldn’t be a problem going forward.
Florida Will Win If:
The Gators can get the win if Franks manages to put together a solid game. That’s easier said than done with one of their top wideouts ruled out after going down with an injury. However, if the freshman can work with what he’s got on the field, expect to be competitive and maybe the gator’s foot becomes a new good luck charm.
-Clint Domingue