Florida made it interesting against LSU on Saturday night, but the Gators ultimately fell 45-35 to the Tigers at home in the Swamp.
[autotag]Anthony Richardson[/autotag] and [autotag]Montrell Johnson Jr[/autotag]. led UF to scores on the first two Gators drives of the night, but it took a muffed punt from LSU for Florida to score its third touchdown of the night. Meanwhile, the Tigers capped off each of their first seven drives with a touchdown, putting Florida in a small hole before the half that turned into a much bigger one after a sloppy start to the third quarter.
A sideline speech from linebacker [autotag]Ventrell Miller[/autotag] inspired the defense to get its first stop of the night, but there was not enough time to complete the comeback. Florida nearly had a shot to tie things up before the end of regulation, but a controversial roughing the passer call on [autotag]Gervon Dexter[/autotag] Sr. in the fourth quarter erased a crucial interception.
Florida ended up holding LSU to a field goal on that drive, but there was little hope to score the 10 points needed to push the game into overtime with just under two minutes left on the clock. A third-quarter drive that ended in a turnover on down on the LSU 12 would’ve set up a last-second shot for Florida had Billy Napier called for the field goal, but that’s a lot of hindsight to consider.
Before moving on to Georgia prep, here are five takeaways from Florida’s loss to LSU to consider over the next two weeks.