While Tailgaters were cooking Gator, the LSU offense cooked the Gators defense in a 42-28 win

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The LSU Tigers are the best football team in the country. 

Heck of a statement, isn’t it? Prove me wrong because no one LSU has played sure has. The Tigers’ offense continued to look like the top offensive unit in the country on Saturday night in a 42-28 hard fought win over the 7th ranked Florida Gators. Florida has one of the better defenses in all of college football, but that did not seem to phase the Tigers offense.

Homecoming for LSU. ESPN College GameDay. Battle between two teams ranked in the top ten. Night game. That is the recipe for success inside of Death Valley (Tigers Stadium). And Coach Orgeron seems to agree. He made quite the statement following the Tigers win. 

“That was the best stadium I have ever seen.” During the press conference the first thing Orgeron did was praise the crowd. 

I was there, I have never seen a stadium get that loud. Every seat was full, it was loud. Very loud. The LSU fans came ready and it started way before kickoff. Check out what they were eating before the game! 

Yes, that is Gator. I actually had some and it tasted good. Just as good as the LSU offense looked. 

 To set the stage for you, Joe Burrow did not throw his second incompletion until midway through the third quarter. Burrow finished the night going 21-24, 293 yards and 3TD. Burrow should not only be highly talked about when it comes to winning the Heisman, but he needs to start being talked about as one of the top ranked QBs in the 2020 NFL Draft come April. 

I sat down with a seven-year NFL scout during the game Saturday night and he had some high praise for Mr. Burrow. He wrote in his notes and compared him as a “Peyton Manning – ish” type player. He does not have a strong arm, just like Peyton Manning , but everything else is very similar. This is all coming from the NFL scout. The scout also said, “best case scenario is Burrow is a Peyton Manning, worst case he is a Josh McCown type player.” He told me he could be a 15-year backup in the NFL or be a Peyton Manning type player. High praise for the LSU quarterback. 

After the game Burrow made sure to praise his offensive line, who did not give up a single sack all night. That’s a tough task with how good that Florida defensive line is. 

“That’s about as flawless as an offensive line can play. I didn’t feel pressure all night,” Burrow said following the win.

Burrow was not the only one to give credit to the offensive line. You could have picked out of a hat what the most impressive stat was and felt happy about it. But Coach Orgeron had other plans:

“The biggest stat of the night: No sacks,” Coach Orgeron said. 

Here are some other stats that stood out tonight from the offensive side. 

The positive for LSU, the running game finally picked up and looks like it can be a factor when the Tigers need it to be. The negative, the first half defense. 

For a while it seemed like LSU was going to have to score a touchdown every time they got the ball because that’s exactly what Florida was doing. With four seconds remaining in the first half, the Gators punched it into the endzone. This made the game tied at 21 heading into the halftime break. 

My opinion on why the defense continued to struggle was because the LSU offense scores to quick. That’s not a joke. Imagine just getting off the field and then five minutes later you have to go back onto the field because that’s how fast your offense scores. This should give you an idea:

Total plays: Florida 84 – LSU 48

Time of possession: Florida 38:19 – LSU 21:41 

LSU also only faced three third-downs all night. THREE. And they scored 42 points. That is how good this Joe Burrow led offense is. But my narrative got shut down because the Florida offense opened up the second half with a touchdown to take a 28-21 lead. The Gators first and only lead of the night. Finally, the LSU defense began to play. Following the second half opening drive touchdown by the Gators, the Tigers defense did not allow them to score a single point. What was the adjustment? 

“Blitz more,” Coach Orgeron said. 

Whatever works. LSU’s defense left multiple turnovers on the field tonight. The only one they forced came on a big game changing interception by true freshman Derek Stingley in the endzone. Stingley has continued to show why he is the Tigers best cover corner. I said it last week and I will say it again, remember his name. He will be the top ranked cornerback entering the 2021 NFL Draft. I’m not the only one who has high praise for the young corner. 

LSU has the best offense in the country, but their defense continues to lack consistency. If they have any hope of winning another National Championship the defense will have to get better or they could just outscore everyone. But the less stressful resolution for the fans is to fix the defense. 

Best stat of the night for me, LSU averaged 10.6 yards per play on offense against Florida. Many who say is the best defense in the country. Entering the game, Florida on average gave up just 4.5 yards per play. 

LSU remains undefeated and they look to continue that stretch next week on the road against a struggling Mississippi State team.

My College Football Top Ten entering Week 7:

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Written by: Corey Clark

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