BATON ROUGE, La. — When an opposing Florida running back is invoking the name (and breaking records held by) Herschel Walker, well, things probably aren't going to end well for the Gators. 

LSU's Tyrion Davis-Price rushed 36 times for a school-record 287 yards and three touchdowns, leading the Tigers to a 49-42 upset of 20th-ranked UF in their high-noon Southeastern Conference shootout Saturday at Tiger Stadium. 

Quarterback Max Johnson passed for 133 yards and three touchdowns, including a 1-yarder to Jaray Jenkins on fourth-and-goal for the go-ahead score with 3:30 to play in the game. That left matters to UF counterpart Anthony Richardson, who replaced starter Emory Jones early in the third quarter and led the Florida offense on four straight touchdown drives. His shot at a fifth, though, ended when Richardson tried to force a pass for wide receiver Rick Wells up the left sideline and over the top of the LSU defense. The ball was intercepted by linebacker Damone Clark, who had Wells blanketed, with 1:59 to play. 

The Tigers, 10-point underdogs at home, ran out the clock from there, handing the Gators (4-3, 2-3) a third straight loss in the series and leaving them buried deep in the Southeastern Conference East Division standings heading into a bye week. 

And with a date against No. 1 Georgia on the other side. 

"We're going to evaluate a lot of things," Coach Dan Mullen said. "We got to play better. We'll evaluate it all. We got to coach better, play better, look at our personnel and make sure we're putting guys in the right position to make plays." 

LSU (4-3, 2-2) began the day ranked 127th (out of 130 FBS programs) in rushing offense at just 83.3 yards per game. The Tigers finished with 454 yards, including 321 on the ground against a UF defense that was allowing just 108.5 ground yards per game. Davis-Price came into the game with 288 yards on 67 carries for the season. He left it with school single-game rushing record, breaking the mark of 285 set by Derrius Guice against Texas A&M in 2016, as well as breaking the 41-year-old record of Walker, who buried the Gators for 238 yards in Georgia's infamous 1980 win in Jacksonville (see Scott, Lindsay). 

Of Davis-Price's 36 carries, none went for negative yardage. 

"I told them to feed me," Davis-Price said of his coaches, who did just that. 

CHARTING THE GATORS 
The most single-game rushing yards ever gained against Florida. 

Yards	Running back	Opponent	Date	Outcome
287	Tyrion Davis-Price	@LSU	Oct. 16, 2021	L 49-42
238	Herschel Walker	Georgia (Jacksonville)	Nov. 8, 1980	L 26-21
228	Travis Stephens	Tennessee	Dec. 1, 2001	L 34-32
219	Herschel Walker	Georgia (Jacksonville)	Nov. 6, 1982	L 44-0
212	Marcus Lattimore	South Carolina	Nov. 14, 2010	L 36-14

Offensively, the Gators outgained the Tigers with 488 yards and — two weeks after being flagged 15 times in the loss at Kentucky — did not commit a single penalty. None. They did, however, have four turnovers to LSU's none. Those giveaways (three of which led to Tiger TDs) combined with the rushing yardage discrepancy (UF came in No. 1 in the SEC at 273.7 per game, but finished with just 138) proved the difference. 

"They have a talented running back who was making plays," said Florida linebacker Mohamoud Diabate, who led his unit with nine tackles. "They got us out of position a couple of times. They had a good scheme and ran a couple things we hadn't seen before and we didn't know were coming."

As if the team's defensive issues weren't unsettling enough, Mullen now has a full-blown quarterback controversy on his hands. Richardson, clearly back from the sore hamstring that sidelined him for the first two SEC games, shook off an interception on his second of two first-half possessions, and stepped in for Jones on the second series of the third quarter with the Gators trailing 28-13. UF's next four drives, with Richardson at the controls, looked like this: 75, 75, 65 and 75 yards, all for touchdowns. 

"He got hot, so we stuck with him," Mullen said. "We had some momentum, offensively."

The Gators, though, never managed to get the lead because the Tigers' offense — with a little of Johnson and a lot of Davis-Price — would not let them. 

The quarterback situation, obviously, will be among Mullen's multitude of evaluations over the next two weeks. 

Richardson's thoughts on the subject?

"That's not my time or opinion to speak on," Richardson said. "I was just out there playing. Coach Mullen put me out there. He trust me enough to play. That's all I was trying to do."  Florida actually led the game early, with a Jones-led drive that included a 22-yard reception by the quarterback on an end-around pass from Trent Whittemore. It ended when tailback Dameon Pierce slammed in from seven yards to put UF on top midway through the period. Chris Howard's point-after was blocked. The UF defense followed that score with another stop and the Gators were in good shape to add to the lead when they got the ball back at their 47. Enter Richardson for his scripted third series. He handed off twice, then was stopped for a two-yard loss on third-and-8. The Gators punted and pinned the Tigers at their 10. 

LSU's next drive: 90 yards, 13 plays, 5:09. Along the way, the Tigers converted a third-and-15 and third-and-5 to reach the UF 23 at the end of the quarter. The second period began with a 5-yard run by Davis-Price, followed by his 18-yard touchdown off right tackle. Cade York's extra point was good, giving LSU a 7-6 advantage. 

Later in the quarter, UF reached the LSU 38 and was threatening to take the lead, but Jones' third-down pass for Whittemore was high and tipped and intercepted by defensive back Micah Baskerville, who returned the ball 54 yards to the Florida 28. Whittemore was also hurt on the play did not return. 

On first down, Johnson, under pressure from defensive lineman Gervon Dexter, stuck a perfect post-pattern throw to Jenkins, who got inside position on nickelback Tre'Vez Johnson and hauled in the 28-yard score to go ahead 14-6 at the 9:31 mark of the second quarter. 

Enter Richardson again. On first down, rolling right, he tried to force a pass to Kemore Gamble streaking upfield. Not only was the tight end well covered, but free safety Jay Ward, laying in wait, easily tracked the ball for an interception and returned the play 26 yards to the UF 21. Three snaps later, Johnson play-faked and found Jenkins for a 5-yard touchdown pass and 21-6 lead with 5:51 left in the quarter. 

A rout was in the offing. So it seemed. 

LSU forced another UF punt and despite starting at its 11 with 2:45 to go before halftime had plays of 24 and 50 yards called back for penalties before punting away with 29 seconds left. Florida started at its 23 with one timeout left. A 24-yard completion to Shorter got the ball to the LSU 42 with five seconds remaining. The Gators took their last timeout and — bypassing a field-goal attempt of 60 yards — let Jones drop and sky the ball into the end zone, where Shorter, surrounded by four LSU defenders, caught the "Hail Mary" heave in the deep right corner and got one foot down as time expired. 

"It was just focus," said Shorter, who finished with six catches for 113 yards and two scores. "I just [saw] the ball into my hands like Coach teaches us every single day. It was a great play. We were looking for something like that to spring us to the second half." 

Howard's PAT made it 21-13 at the break, with the Gators due the second half kickoff.  On the second snap of the second half, Jones had Malik Davis wide open on a wheel route up the left sideline. The pass was slightly under thrown, but Davis tried to reach and catch it off his shoe laces in stride, instead of going down to get it. Next snap, on third and 8, Jones tried to force a throw to a blanketed Shorter across the middle. Cornerback Dwight McGlothern intercepted the pass and dodged his way to a 37-yard pick-6 return that put LSU up 28-13 and basically negated the miracle "Mary" that ended the first half. 

Back came Richardson on the next series; for a while, as it turned out. He started with two incompletions, but LSU cornerback Raydarious Jones canceled out the second when he stood over Shorter, the intended receiver, and got a 15-yard taunting penalty. Completions of 27 yards to Pierce and 11 to Shorter got the ball to the Tigers' 5, where Richardson scored on a QB draw, then added another run for the two-point conversion. Quickly, the score was 28-21. 

Even quicker, it was 35-21. 

Three plays, 75 yards, 57 seconds, with Davis-Price busting up the middle untouched for a 40-yard touchdown run. The guy was phenomenal, if not unstoppable, in averaging 8.0 yards per carry.

"We dug ourselves some holes during the game of the game that you can't do, obviously, when you're playing good teams," Mullen said. 

But back came the Gators. And Richardson. A 38-yard completion to Gamble and 19-yard shovel completion to Jacob Copeland were two of the four plays that moved the ball to the LSU 14. Two snaps later, Richardson stuck a 5-yard touchdown pass into Shorter's gut and, like that, it was a seven-point margin again at 35-28. 

Florida's defense came up with its lone second-half stop and Richardson and friends answered after the LSU punt. On third-and-2, Richardson kept and dashed 25 yards up the right sideline. A 20-yard completion to Copeland got the ball to the LSU 11. Richardson finished the drive by hitting Pierce out of the backfield for an 11-yard TD. Howard's PAT tied the game at 35 with 3:45 to play in the third quarter. 

It was Richardson's third TD drive in just over seven minutes. 

A Davis-Price run of 21 yards kicked in LSU's go-ahead march. The Tigers converted three third downs over the 75 yards, with Davis-Price busting off the right side for a 25-yard touchdown run and 42-35 lead. 

Davis-Price's runs came almost exclusively on power and counter plays between the tackles. Nothing the Florida defense did could stop him. 

"We made the adjustments we were given," Diabate said. 
  Two plays into UF's next series, Richardson was sacked and doubled over in pain with an injury to his left hand. He left the game and Jones, on his first snap, fired a third-and-12 completion for his first of two first downs. Richardson re-entered and hit Gamble to convert a pivotal fourth-and-4 at the LSU 40. On third-and-10 from the Tigers 33, Richardson set up in the pocket and delivered a seed up the right sideline that Copeland caught for a touchdown to tie the game with 9:14 left for his fourth TD drive of the half. 

Last team with the ball, it seemed, would win. 

Johnson moved the Tigers 68 yards in 10 plays to the go-ahead scored, with Price-Davis carrying eight times for 48 yards before Johnson faced a fourth-and-goal at the UF 1. The Tigers eschewed the field goal — and Price-Davis — and went play-action, instead, with Johnson hitting Jenkins open in the right flat for the lead with 3:30 to go. 

Richardson had kept his team in the game. His late interception kept them from winning it. 

"In that time, that place, you're supposed to make a play," Richardson said. "Everybody's trusting me to go out there and win the game, but I didn't fulfill that. Of course, that interception is going to humble you, but you just have to keep fighting."

And keep evaluating.