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The spotlight shines brightly on Leonard Fournette at LSU, and that’s all good. The man’s a beast.
But this is LSU, so we’ll also have to remember this: that vaunted Tigers defense can still make plays, too.
And, going forward, they’re going to have to come up big for LSU to run the table. They seem capable.
Most of the time.
LSU escaped Death Valley with a thrilling 35-28 victory over Florida on Saturday night. The Tigers are the last unscathed team standing, 6-0 overall at 4-0 in the SEC West. Fournette was his usual self, rushing for 180 yards and two scores.
And coach Les Miles was his usual self, too. LSU took the lead for good at 35-28 with 10:40 left in the fourth on a “Yeah-that’s-the-Mad-Hatter” fake field goal attempt. Holder Brad Kragthorpe hit kicker Trent Domingue on a perfect pass for a 16-yard score that stunned Florida.
The LSU defense took it from there. They pitched a shutout down the stretch.
A sack and two forced throws from Florida’s Treon Harris ended the first drive. Four straight incompletions nixed the second drive. The third and final Florida attempt to tie the game also was stymied. LSU closed it out with four more incompletions from Harris, the only scare a 41-yard completion just prior to those final four throws.
Bend, slightly, but not break.
LSU’s defense has been really good so far this year, but the jury still has to be out a bit. After all, this was the fourth straight week the Tigers were fortunate enough to play against a backup quarterback. In wins against South Carolina, Eastern Michigan and Syracuse, bench guys passed for only 172 yards per game on average and combined for five interceptions.
Treon Harris, though, isn’t your typical backup. He’s played enough in the last two years – and came to Gainesville with a big enough reputation to expect good things – for the Gators faithful to think he could lead them to a victory. He had his moments Saturday night in his eighth career start, but not at crunch time. He passed for 271 yards, but half those yards came on four throws where LSU had massive coverage brain cramps. Harris was sacked five times and Florida rushed for only 55 yards on 31 carries.
Now that focus can shift to what should be another epic matchup with Alabama in three weeks. LSU has a nonconference game with 6-1 Western Kentucky next week and then a bye. LSU shut down Florida’s running game Saturday night and they’ll have to do that again during the stretch run in November.
The studs are there. Lewis Neal had 10 tackles and three sacks. The secondary, which is still a work in progress, will benefit from the return of Jalen Mills, who’s been out since having foot surgery in August and got his first game action of the season on Saturday. His return is welcomed, because there’s still plenty of work to be done with that group. (There’s work to be done on special teams too after another pathetic performance.)
As for Florida, there is no such thing as a moral victory in a big-boy league, but they can’t be disappointed completely in what transpired Saturday night. They showed some things, and winning the SEC East is still totally under their control. The annual Jacksonville showdown with Georgia likely will decide the crown, and it’s obvious that first-year coach Jim McElwain has them trending in the right direction.
LSU and Florida, the last two standing with unblemished records, may very well see each other again in Atlanta. There’s a long road still to go – and Alabama and Georgia might disagree – but it could certainly happen.
As entertaining as Saturday’s game was, that wouldn’t be a bad thing.
Tom Brew is an award-winning journalist and author who is covering SEC football for Saturday Down South.
