ChompTalk.com

Florida and LSU engaged in a fun game that took fans through the gauntlet of emotions Saturday night. The Gators prevailed 27-16 on a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns and are now just one win away from being bowl-eligible.

The following are my top three takeaways from the game.

1. DJ Lagway is special.

If you’ve been following this Florida program the last fifteen years, you know it’s been a long time since the Gators had an underclassman quarterback that made a difference (possible exception, Will Grier in 2015), but DJ Lagway absolutely does.

On Saturday, Lagway was far from perfect, finishing 13-26 overall, but still willed his team to the win. The freshman’s fourth quarter, 36-yard strike to Elijah Badger set up a Ja’Kobi Jackson rushing touchdown from one yard out to put Florida ahead.

But the most significant thing about Lagway is that he elevates the play of the rest of the team, even the defensive side of the ball. Just look to last week, when Florida started third string QB Aidan Warner. Texas recoded 562 yards of offense. Add Lagway and the Gators defense recorded seven sacks and allowed just 392 total yards. It’s a totally different mentality. We saw it against Georgia until Lagway left with injury. Florida led and had the Bulldogs on the ropes. Lagway makes the team better in all facets and that’s hardly up for debate.

2. Special Teams plays vital role.

The special teams unit at Florida has taken a lot of criticism in Billy Napier’s tenure, rightfully so. And they weren’t perfect Saturday. The first punt saw twelve men break huddle resulting in a penalty. But the play of kicker Trey Smack and punter Jeremy Crawshaw shouldn’t go overlooked.

Smack’s contribution is fairly easy to see. His 49-yard field goal in the second quarter put the Gators ahead 10-7. He followed that up with a 55-yarder in the third quarter that evened the score at 13. If he misses either of those kicks, the LSU offense is playing with a short field and has a chance to change the outcome of the game.

Crawshaw’s numbers won’t really impress, until you look deeper into it. The Aussie punter was named a finalist for the Ray Guy Award for the nation’s best punter and entered the game averaging better than 46-yards per kick. His four punts against LSU averaged just 37.8 yards but all four of those resulted in the Tigers taking possession inside their own 20.

3. Defense made strides, but third down is a huge problem.

Overall, the defense played much better than they have at most points this year. But, Florida struggled mightily on third and fourth down. The Tigers went 13-24 on third downs and 2-4 on fourth downs against the Gators. The problem here is that most of these were not 3rd and 1 type of downs. Oftentimes, the Florida defense would stop the Tigers on first and second down and LSU would be looking at 3rd and 8 or 3rd and 12 but would somehow convert. It became a joke among many fans that LSU should attack every down like it was third down.

The defense came up with seven sacks against an LSU offensive line that had only allowed six all season. That’s incredible. They forced LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier to drop back 52 times! And finally, late in the third quarter they got a turnover as Caleb Banks came away with a fumble recovery on the plus side of the field.

Also: Linebacker Shemar James finished with eleven tackles and two sacks to lead the effort and deserves mention.

…

Florida will play their final home game Saturday against Ole Miss. The Rebels are 8-2 overall and 4-2 in SEC play. Kickoff is slated for 12:00 PM.