Tigers' offense explodes, LSU holds off Florida for a 10-point road win

Nobody disliked LSU’s 27-point loss to then-No. 8 Tennessee last Saturday more than Tigers’ first-year head coach Brian Kelly.

Because his team self-destructed early and never gave itself a remote chance to win.

“We're gonna have some more good days and we're gonna have some more bad days,” Kelly said of the process of rebuilding the program.

LSU followed its bad day vs. the Vols with a good day – or rather night – when the Tigers scored touchdowns Saturday on their first six possessions and staved off a fourth-quarter Florida rally for a 45-35 SEC road victory.

For the first time this season, LSU (5-2 overall, 3-1 SEC West) hit on all cylinders offensively, thanks to quarterback Jayden Daniels throwing for 342 yards and three TDs and rushing for 44 yards and three TDs.

Florida (4-3, 1-3 SEC East) led 7-0, 14-7 and 21-14 before the Tigers reeled off 28 straight points for 42-21 lead. The Gators were able to score TDs on two consecutive fourth-quarter TDs to make it a one-possession game with 7:39 left to play.

LSU was able to take 5:47 off the clock on its final possession, getting a 47-yard field goal Damian Ramos with 1:52 left to clinch the Tigers’ fourth straight win over the Gators.

LSU finished 528 yards total offense, keyed by Daniels’ 23 of 32 passing as he completed passes to nine different receivers. He finally got Kayson Boutte back on track as the Tigers’ preseason All-American receiver had six catches for 115 yards.

Daniels became the first player in LSU history to have at least 3 rushing touchdowns and 3 passing touchdowns in regulation.

For the most part, LSU's defense kept a lid on Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson. He accounted for 294 of the Gators’ 395 total offense yards, but 81 of them came on Richardson’s TD run to open the fourth quarter.

LSU’s only sore spot on the night was a pair of special team gaffes that set up two Florida first-half touchdowns.

Yet the difference for the Tigers this time is they stayed aggressively offensively knowing they should and could exploit a Florida defense ranked 12th in the SEC.

Florida’s Trevor Etienne returned the opening kickoff 47 yards to Gators’ 37-yard line. Two plays later, Richardson launched a 51-yard TD pass to Justin Shorter for a 7-0 Florida lead with the game just under a minute old.

Also, LSU’s Jack Bech, who fumbled the game-opening kickoff a week ago in a 40-13 loss to Tennessee, fumbled Florida’s first punt of the night as the Gators’ Rocco Underwood recovered at the LSU 13.

Five plays later, Florida running back Montrell Johnson ran for a 3-yard TD and a 21-14 Gators’ lead with 8:13 left in the half.

Yet in both cases after Etienne’s game-opening return and Bech’s muffed punt, LSU’s offense delivered the proper response with Daniels making some fearless throws for the first time this season.

The Tigers scored TDs on all four of their first half possessions on drives of 75, 73, 75 and 83 yards respectively. LSU was successful on 6 of 7 third-down conversions and 1 of 1 on fourth down conversions.

In the opening two quarters, Daniels threw for 252 passing yards and TDs of 7 yards to John Emery Jr., 24 yards to Brian Thomas Jr. and 54 yards to Jaray Jenkins .

His clutch completions of 40 and 14 yards to Boutte on LSU’s opening scoring drive set the tone for the Tigers’ long-awaited offensive aggressiveness that filtered into LSUs running game.

The best example was on LSU’s first offensive snap of the second half. Running back Josh Williams turned a simple plunge into the middle into a 50-yard run to the Florida 25 after he broke a string of tackles.

Three plays later, Daniels skirted around right end for a 9-yard TD run as the Tigers extended their lead to 35-21 with 13:17 left in the third quarter.

Florida tried to stop the bleeding with a 63-yard drive to the LSU 12 where the Tigers’ defense forced Richardson to throw third and fourth down incompletions.

LSU’s offense responded with a sixth straight TD drive. Daniels completed 5 of 7 passes for 61 yards, finishing a 13-play, 88-yard masterpiece with a 9-yard TD scamper around left end for a 42-21 cushion with 1:07 left in the third period.

Florida wasn’t dead yet, scoring on back-to-back fourth-quarter possessions.

On the first play of the fourth quarter on second-and-16, Richardson sprinted around left end and through LSU’s defense on an 81-yard TD run that reduced the Tigers’ margin to 42-28 with 14:46 left to play.

The Gators followed that with an 11-play, 80-yard scoring drive. Etienne’s 1-yard TD run cut LSU’s lead to 42-35 with 7:39 left and pumped up the volume from the home crowd.

The Tigers dodged a huge bullet with 6 minutes left. Daniels threw an interception, but Florida’s Gervon Dexter was penalized for roughing the passer resulting in an automatic first down.

It breathed new life into LSU’s last possession which ate up valuable clock and produced a Ramos field goal for the Tigers’ 10-point margin of victory.