South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Gators’ offense stalls late against LSU
BATON ROUGE, La. – The Florida Gators’ visit to LSU was supposed to be a classic battle between the Tigers’ top-scoring offense and one of the nation’s top defenses.
Instead, the Gators’ attack found an extra gear, turning a top-10 matchup in sold-out Tiger Stadium into a shootout.
Eventually, quarterback Kyle Trask and the No. 7 Gators could not keep up with Joe Burrow and the Tigers during Saturday’s 42-28 loss that featured 968 yards of offense.
The Gators’ chances effectively ended with an end-zone interception from Trask with 7:26 remaining. Facing third-and-1 from the
LSU 16, Trask faked a handoff and threw an ill-advised pass toward Freddie Swain that was off the mark and ended up in the hands of Tigers freshman cornerback Derek Stingley Jr.
Three plays later, LSU delivered the dagger when UF star cornerback CJ Henderson was burned on a wheel route by Tigers sophomore star Ja’Maar Chase for a 54-yard touchdown catch from Burrow.
Burrow was the star of the game, finishing 21-of-24 passing for 293 yards and three touchdowns, including two to Chase, a former Florida commit.
With a full moon above and Tiger Stadium howling on a crisp fall night, Trask showed the moxie of a seasoned veteran much of the night, not a player making his first career start on the road.
An announced crowd of 102,321 did its best to rattle Trask and the Gators, but he was 4-of-4 passing on the opening drive of the second half as the Gators took their first lead at 28-21.
UF, a 13.5-point underdog, would not score again as LSU pulled away to end the Gators’ 10-game winning streak — the program’s longest since 2009.
The Gators (6-1, 3-1) had outscored opponents 112-17 during the second half of the season, but the Tigers (6-0, 2-0) scored the game’s final 21 points.
UF now heads to South Carolina to face the Gamecocks, whose 20-17 overtime win against Georgia put the SEC East up grabs.