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No. 22 Florida delivers No. 5 LSU its first loss of the season

Lamical Perine (22) scored two touchdowns in Florida’s upset win over LSU. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

A win for No. 5 LSU over Florida in The Swamp on Saturday would have set up a marquee matchup vs. No. 2 Georgia in Baton Rouge next weekend.

No. 22 Florida had other ideas.

The Gators, behind a strong rushing attack and some creative play calling from Dan Mullen, pulled out a 27-19 upset victory. Florida rushed for 213 yards in the win, with Lamical Perine and Jordan Scarlett leading the way.

Perine’s two-yard touchdown with 8:48 to play gave Florida a lead it would not relinquish. And the winning score was set up by a nifty play call from Mullen.

Trailing 19-14, Mullen dialed up a trick play on first-and-10 from the LSU. Quarterback Feleipe Franks handed to tight end Lucas Krull on an end-around. As it looked like the 6-foot-6, 255-pound Krull was headed upfield, he looked back toward Franks, who had leaked out of the backfield. Krull, a lefty, delivered a perfect pass, hitting Franks in stride down to the 2-yard line.

On the very next play, Perine was in the end zone for his second score of the game, giving the Gators had a 20-19 lead with 8:48 to play.

LSU would have three more tries on offense. The first resulted in a punt. The second resulted in Joe Burrow’s first interception of the season, which Florida’s Brad Stewart returned 25 yards for a score.

At that point, it was still a one-possession lead, 27-19, for Florida. That meant the Tigers had one more try to tie the game. Burrow got his team toward midfield, but threw another interception, sealing the upset victory for the Gators.

What does this mean for LSU?

LSU is undoubtedly better than most thought when the season began — but that No. 5 ranking was a bit of fool’s gold. The Tigers have not been able to generate many explosive plays on offense, especially in the passing game, to this point in the year, and that proved costly against Florida.

The drive scripted up by offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger to start the game looked great. The Tigers went 75 yards in 10 plays to take a 7-0 lead, but the offense looked predictable and unimaginative the rest of the way.

Florida’s defensive line gave LSU trouble all afternoon, bottling up LSU backs Nick Brossette and Clyde Edwards-Helaire in the process. Brossette was able to rack up 79 yards on just three carries on a go-ahead drive early in the fourth, but he had just 16 yards on 12 carries outside of that drive.

Burrow’s magic ran out, too. The graduate transfer quarterback from Ohio State led the Tigers to wins over Miami and Auburn, but couldn’t do the same against Florida. He was 19-of-34 for 191 yards and two interceptions, the first two of his collegiate career. Both of those picks came in the final minutes as he tried to lead his team back from a late deficit.

LSU has plenty of chances left, however, to keep itself in the College Football Playoff picture. The aforementioned Georgia Bulldogs will visit Death Valley next Saturday, as will No. 1 Alabama on Nov. 3.

What does this mean for Florida?

Pencil in the Gators to the list of SEC East pretenders, and put them pretty high on the list.

Georgia is the class of that division, and everybody knows it. As things currently stand, No. 13 Kentucky is right behind the Bulldogs. UK has made plenty of noise and can improve to 6-0 (for the first time since 1950) with a win over Texas A&M Saturday night. Now, with the win over LSU under its belt, Florida has put itself in the mix.

When UF lost to Kentucky for the first time since 1986, nobody knew what to make of the Gators in their first season under Mullen. Since then, we’ve learned that Kentucky is for real. And now it’s pretty apparent that UF is much-improved. The offense is not exactly a juggernaut, but Mullen’s creativity can get the ball to his playmakers in space in ways that Jim McElwain never even dreamed of.

And when you look at the schedule, Georgia obviously looms on Oct. 27. But beyond that, every game is very winnable. A season with as many as nine or 10 wins will be a heck of a building block for Mullen moving forward.


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