Game 9 LSU (3-5 overall and SEC West) at Florida (8-1 overall and SEC East), Saturday, 6 p.m., ESPN
Last week for Florida: The Gators clinched their first spot in the SEC championship game since 2016 with a 31-19 victory at Tennessee. Gators’ quarterback Kyle Trask threw for 443 yards and four TDs and tight end Kyle Pitts had seven catches for 128 yards. Florida led 31-7 until the final 5:33 when the Vols scored twice.
Last time LSU played Florida: In the face of a hostile LSU crowd last year, then-No. 7 Florida led then-No. 5 LSU 28-21 with 10:54 left in the third quarter. The Tigers, keyed by a TD-saving Derek Stingley Jr. interception, closed out the Gators with a 21-0 run for a 42-28 win.
Series record: Florida leads LSU 30-33-3.
Florida head coach: Dan Mullen, 98-52 overall in 12 seasons, 29-6 at Florida in 3 years.
THIS AND THAT
Early betting line: Florida by 24
Number of Louisiana natives on Florida roster: 3
Number of Florida natives on LSU roster: 3
Florida-LSU program connections: Bill Arnsparger resigned as LSU’s head football coach in 1986 with a 26-8-2 record in three years to become Florida’s athletic director. . .Current Florida passing game coordinator/receivers coach Billy Gonzales held the same positions on LSU’s staff in 2010 and 2011.
FLORIDA PLAYERS TO WATCH:
OFFENSE
QB Kyle Trask (230 of 322 for 3,243 yards, 38 TDs, 3 interceptions), TE Kyle Pitts (36 catches for 641 yards, 11 TDs), WR Kadarius Toney (53 catches for 649 yards, 8 TDs), RB Dameon Pierce (417yards rushing, 3 TDs), OL Stewart Reese
DEFENSE
LB Brenton Cox Jr. (35 tackles, 8½ for loss including 4 sacks, 13 QB hurries), DB Kalir Elam (31 tackles, 10 PBU), DB Shawn Davis (40 tackles, two interceptions), LB Ventrell Miller (66 tackles, 5½ for losses including 2½ sacks) DL Zachary Carter (28 tackles, 7½ for loss including 4 sacks, 11 QB hurries)
SPECIAL TEAMS
PK Evan McPherson (12 of 55 FG, 42-OF-42 extra points), P Jacob Finn (44.4 yards per punt), KO Evan McPherson (29 touchbacks in 69 kickoffs), KO returner Kadarius Toney (5 for 22.8), PR Kadarius Toney (9 for 14.0, 1 TD)
HIS-TO-RY
1. After making 1 of 7 field goals in a 3-3 tie at Florida in 1972, what did 5-9, 178-pound LSU placekicker Juan Roca say after the game walking off the field to an offensive lineman loudly criticizing Roca for all his misses?
A. “If you would have blocked better, we would have scored touchdowns!”
B. “We wouldn’t even have a tie without my field goal!”
C. “Hey Chunky Beef, shut your piehole!”
D. “You WANT a PIECE of ME?”
2. In Urban Meyer’s six years as Florida’s head coach 2005 to 2010, how Florida players were arrested for a myriad of charges?
A. 8
B. 16
C. 24
D. 31
3. What did LSU athletic director Joe Dean say in the final minutes of the Tigers’ 1997 win over No. 1 Florida when he was advised students might tear down the goalposts in a postgame celebration?
A. “Start greasing the uprights with Crisco, NOW!”
B. “I WANT THEM TO TEAR THE DAMNED THINGS DOWN. THEY
SHOULD TEAR THEM DOWN!”
C. “Can we get some of our security people to supervise that?”
D. “HELL NO! It’s NOT in our budget!”
4. What was the significance of LSU’s 20-6 Tiger Stadium loss to Florida in 1964?
A. It was LSU only SEC loss of the season besides losing to Alabama
B. Because Hurricane Hilda hit Baton Rouge, the game was postponed from Oct. 3 to Dec. 5
C. Along with playing Ole Miss in 1970 and Alabama last Saturday, it’s the latest in the regular season LSU has played an SEC opponent in the last 72 years.
D. The game program sold to fans featured a bizarre cover of an alien robot wearing an outfit with purple/gold/purple piping sitting on a sideline bench with three players wearing red jerseys.
ANSWERS: 1. B 2. D. 3. B. 4. A, B, C, D
I love the article and the trivia questions. The early betting line infuriates me, makes me cringe, and gives me the Heebie-jeebies. Let’s go Fighting TIGERS and prove them wrong. Geaux TIGERS !!!
The answer to 4-B is incorrect. It was Hurricane Hilda that hit us in 1964 moving the Florida game to December 5th. One of the coldest nights ever in Tiger Stadium. I was only 10 years old and spent the second half at the Red Cross station in the Upper Deck of the South Endzone trying to stay warm. Hurricane Betsy hit us in 1965.
I had my hurricanes flipped. I was at that game, too. I was 8. Coldest I’ve been at an LSU game.