In 2017, LSU went to Gainesville needing a win. It was fresh off an embarrassing home loss to Troy and had taken a 37-7 beating at the hands of Mississippi State in its lone conference game.
Ed Orgeron, in his first year as head coach, was close to being in some trouble. Well, LSU went to Gainesville and won, beating a Florida team that was ranked at the time.
The following week, LSU upset a top-10 Auburn team and finished the season by winning six of its last seven. The lone loss came in Tuscaloosa.
This isn’t 2017. LSU is not coming off a loss to Troy, and Brian Kelly’s job is more than safe.
This is a full-scale rebuild.
But, it still feels like LSU has its back against the wall here. It entered the Tennessee game at 4-1. Optimism surrounded the program.
A blowout loss has dampened that a bit.
If LSU wants to do something with this season, a win on Saturday is necessary. The loss to Tennessee was OK, despite the lopsided score. The Vols could end up being one of the best teams in the country. We’ll find out when they square off with Alabama on Saturday.
A loss to Florida, though, would be different. Florida is a solid team, but like LSU, it’s rebuilding.
I understand this is a road game and LSU struggled in New Orleans and Auburn this year, but LSU needs to come out in this game and compete.
If LSU loses, the Tigers will sit at 4-3 with its next two games coming against opponents ranked in the top 10. There’s a good chance LSU would be under .500, a far cry from 4-1.
This is the type of game you need to win while rebuilding. When you have chances to get wins, you need to capitalize. Florida is probably thinking the same thing.
If we see another sloppy game, I will begin to think it’s a reflection of this coaching staff. Kelly has shown the ability to make adjustments. This is when he needs to show he can make a few more.
I think LSU will. Florida’s run game is tough to stop, but on defense, the Gators have struggled.
I believe we might see LSU’s passing attack have a breakout game this weekend. We saw some big plays last week and LSU has a chance to build on it this week.
The pressure is on. LSU has stepped up in big moments this year, but a complete game from start to finish is yet to be seen.
We’ll see if Kelly can finally get that out of his group in the Swamp.
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