Florida Gators

THE QUICK SLANT
No. 5 LSU 42, No. 7 FLORIDA 28  

WHAT HAPPENED: Quarterback Joe Burrow passed for 293 yards and three touchdowns and tailback Clyde Edwards-Helaire rushed for 134 yards and a pair of scores on a Saturday night when the Gators' defense proved no match for the Southeastern Conference's runaway best offense in a shootout loss in front of 102,000-plus screaming fans at Tiger Stadium. Burrow completed 21 of 24 attempts for 293 yards and scoring passes of 9 and 54 yards to Ja'Marr Chase and 7 yards to Justin Jefferson and wasn't sacked. Edwards-Helaire had a 39-yard touchdown run in the first half and the game-tying 5-yard scoring run in the third period after UF had taken its first lead, at 28-21, on a 2-yard scoring toss from Kyle Trask to Van Jefferson to start the third period. The Gators were stymied the rest of the game, with LSU scoring the final 21 points of the game, including a 33-yard go-ahead touchdown run by Ty Davis-Price with 3:15 left in the third quarter. UF trailed by just seven points midway through the fourth quarter when Trask was picked off in the end zone by LSU defensive back Derek Stingley Jr. with 7:26 to play. Four plays later, Burrow hit a wide-open Chase, who torched cornerback CJ Henderson, up the right sidelines for the 14-point cushion with 5:43 left in the game. Florida came into the game ranked first in total defense, allowing just 276.3 yards per game, and scoring defense, surrendering just 9.5 points per game. The Tigers made jambalaya out of those numbers, shredding the Gators for 511 yards, including 218 on the ground, and the most points posted against UF since Alabama did a 54-16 number on Florida in the 2016 SEC Championship Game. At one point the Tigers, who did not turn the ball over, scored touchdowns on four straight possessions and wasted very little time in doing so (read on). Trask hit 23 of his 39 passes for 310 yards, three touchdowns and the one big interception, as Florida totaled 457 yards of offense, 28 first downs and converted nine of 17 third-down chances, yet were completedly outplayed by the opposing offense.
 
WHAT IT MEANS: With South Carolina's huge road upset of Georgia earlier in the day, the Gators missed an opportunity to assume the driver's seat in the SEC East Division standings. A case can be made that the Bulldogs' loss, coming against a division foe, was worse, but the stakes in a couple weeks in Jacksonville will be high, regardless. For what it's worth, the Gators went into one of the nation's most hostile venues and played toe-to-toe with a top-five team for the better part of the game. They are not out of the SEC race or the chase for a College Football Playoff berth, but the task got a little tougher.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Burrow was a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate before the game, but now he'll be mentioned alongside Alabama quarter Tua Tagovailoa, Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts, Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields and Wisconsin running back Jonathan Taylor. Maybe even as the favorite. Burrow's season numbers now show 148 completions in 186 attempts -- that's 79.5 percent -- to go with 25 touchdowns and just three interceptions, as the pilot of a team smack in the middle of the national-championship conversation.  

STAGGERING STATISTIC: The Tigers and that offense began the night with 26 touchdown drives of three minutes or less in their five games. Of their six TD drives against the Gators, five were less than three minutes. They looked like this: two plays, 66 yards, :32; five plays, 82 yards, 2:09; four plays, 75 yards, 1:29; eight plays, 75 yards, 3:42; four plays, 52 yards, 1:41; four plays, 80 yards, 1:43. So make that 31 drives of three minutes or less through six games. That's remarkably efficient (and explosive). LSU only had four third-down plays the whole game and were out-possessed for the game 38:19 to 21:41.

UP NEXT: Florida (6-1, 3-1) heads back into SEC East Division play with a road trip to South Carolina (3-3, 2-2), which will be home to a jacked crowd at Williams-Brice Stadium in the wake of the Gamecocks' stunning upset of Georgia. A win at Columbia would move the Gators to 3-0 in SEC East play and provide a stepping stone of momentum into the bye week and the ensuing Nov. 2 clash with the rival Bulldogs in Jacksonville.