No. 5 LSU stiff test for ‘Gator Standard’
GAINESVILLE — A sold-out Swamp, a championship team on the sideline and an SEC heavyweight matchup between top 25 teams.
It seems like old times in Gainesville.
It also is how first-year coach Dan Mullen wants Saturdays at home to feel when his Florida Gators take the field. A win over No. 5 LSU would be a big step toward restoring what the 46-year-old coach calls the “Gator Standard.”
The unbeaten Tigers (5-0, 2-0 SEC) enter Saturday’s visit with two wins against teams ranked in the top 10 and finally having found a winning quarterback, Ohio State transfer Joe Burrow. Meanwhile, the No. 22 Gators (4-1, 2-1) are coming off consecutive SEC road wins for the first time since 2012, including last Saturday’s gritty 13-6 win at then-No. 23 Mississippi State.
Mullen’s team now returns to the Swamp, where the atmosphere is sure to be electric and the competition fierce.
“I’m excited,” Mullen said. “This is obviously a big game. Florida-LSU is always a big, big game.”
The return of legendary quarterback Tim Tebow and the 2008 national title team will raise the temperature of this heated rivalry a few more degrees. Following the first quarter, Tebow will become the sixth player inducted into the exclusive Ring of Honor. At halftime, the 2008 team then will take a bow.
That championship squad fea-
tured speed, suffocating defense and an array of playmakers and leaders. Many current UF players grew up watching those Gators and want to make them proud with their performance Saturday.
“It will definitely get the juices flowing for a lot of guys on our team and just make guys want to play a little harder and want to win,” receiver Josh Hammond said. “Especially knowing the body of work that they put in and knowing that they wore the same jerseys, the same helmet, the same sort of uniforms, it means a lot for them to come back and watch us play.”
A Gators’ victory would be their first against a top 10 team since UF whipped No. 3 Ole Miss 38-10 on Oct. 3, 2015.
The Gators beat the Tigers at their own game six seasons ago in the Swamp, winning with hard-hitting defense and a power running game. UF, a two-point underdog, might need a similar blueprint to upset blue-collar LSU coach Ed Orgeron’s squad Saturday.
Under Mullen, though, the Gators have won in a variety of ways, turning to special teams, big plays on offense, opportunistic defense or even trick plays.
Mullen and Tebow, though just a freshman, rarely were better or more deceptive than during the Gators’ 2006 win against LSU. The 23-10 win featured Tebow’s jump pass to Tate Casey and his “rocker step” play-action fake before throwing a 35-yard touchdown to Louis Murphy.
The 2018 Gators now look to put their own stamp on the long-standing series and avoid the program’s first four-game home losing streak against an SEC foe in nearly 70 years. LSU looks to maintain its momentum, given two of it next three games are against No. 2 Georgia and No. 1 Alabama.
“It’s the biggest game of the year for both teams,” UF defensive back Chauncey Gardner-Johnson said.
The outcome likely will come down to who wins the battle up front, makes the fewest mistakes and receives superior quarterback play.
The Tigers’ 17-16 win last season in the Swamp was decided on a missed extra point by UF’s record-setting kicker Eddy Piñeiro, along with the Gators’ inability to protect quarterback Feleipe Franks, who was sacked five times.
Like he did as UF’s offensive coordinator working early on with Tebow, Mullen has put Franks in positions to succeed. Short, quick passes to the perimeter and screens were a winning formula at Mississippi State.
The plan, however, might not be as effective against a talented LSU secondary led by cornerback Greedy Williams, a preseason firstteam All-America.
“It’s going to be a battle,” Orgeron said. “It’s probably going to come down to the last play or so.’’ About FAU (2-3, 0-1 C-USA): Redshirt freshman QB Chris Robison is expected to start once again. Coach Lane Kiffin said on Sunday he may reassess who he starts this week in practice, but on Tuesday, Robison continued to get all the first-team reps. The running back tandem of Devin “Motor” Singletary and Kerrith Whyte has been rolling.
About ODU (1-4, 0-2): Cross off the 52-10 Week 1 loss at Liberty, and the Monarchs have a win against Virginia Tech and three losses by a combined 13 points. They’ve looked solid since committing to more of junior QB Blake LaRussa, who threw for 495 yards and four TDs in the upset of the Hokies.
Three things to watch