#11 Florida routs #4 LSU

Gator QB Tim Tebow took it personally when Florida was upset at home by Mississippi two weeks ago, vowing to “play harder” from here on out.  He did just that on Saturday, throwing for 210 yards and 2 TDs and rushing for another as the Gators destroyed #4 LSU 51-21.  Florida sprinted to a 20-7 halftime lead and were never challenged, leading 34-14 at the start of the fourth quarter.  LSU did score a TD going into the locker room and coming out to draw to 20-14, but three straight Florida scores capped by a 52 yard interception return by Brandon Spikes put the game on ice.

LSU has only allowed 50+ points five times in SEC play, and Florida has been the opponent on three of those occasions.  On Saturday, the Gator offense was nearly unstoppable both through the air (210 yards) and on the ground (265 yards).  LSU managed to produce more passing yards than the Gators (241), but their ground game was practically nonexistent as the Bayou Bengals limped to 80 yards on the ground.  They also committed three turnovers to one for the Gators.

The Gators’ appeared to take motivation not only from their previous bad outing against Mississippi but from some choice words by LSU’s defensive lineman Ricky Jean-Francois.   Jean-Francois bragged to the media about the Bengals defensive superiority and hoped to put Tebow “out of the game”.  Ironically, Jean-Francois missed the game with a groin injury but Florida made an emphatic statement against the LSU defense in his absence.

Florida now has a bye week before hosting Kentucky on 10/25.  That’ll be followed by back-to-back games against ranked SEC foes on the road as the Gators travel to #11 Georgia on 11/1 and #22 Vanderbilt the following week.  LSU has another tough matchup next Saturday as they travel to Columbia to play South Carolina followed by home games against #10 Georgia and Tulane leading up to a huge home game on 11/8 against #2 ranked Alabama.