Four Takeaways from Florida’s loss to LSU
For the second year in a row, Florida finds itself staring at a 1-2 start after falling to No. 3 LSU 20-10 Saturday night. Florida (1-2) held its own for the entire game, but too many mistakes on the offensive side of the ball, including five interceptions thrown by quarterback DJ Lagway, doomed Florida from pulling off the upset.
“Offensively, just not able to generate enough,” Gators coach Billy Napier said. “Felt like when we had momentum, we had a critical penalty or we turned the ball over.”
Here are the biggest takeaways from Saturday’s loss:
DJ Lagway’s Regression Continues
Things could not have gone worse for Lagway, who made his first career SEC road start in one of college football’s toughest environments. Lagway’s regression remains one of the biggest stories in college football. The preseason Heisman Trophy contender simply cannot find his 2024 self, and as a result, has hurt Florida so far this season.
Napier said postgame that Lagway is not injured to his knowledge, but it feels like the offseason injuries that kept Lagway down are rearing their ugly head again. Through three games, the second-year starter has consistently missed reads, overthrown receivers and turned the ball over.
Lagway finished 33 of 49 with 287 yards, one touchdown,and five interceptions — the most picks thrown by a Florida quarterback since Rex Grossman threw four interceptions in 2002.
“I’ve never had a performance like that, so it’s hard to process,” Lagway said.
It is time people start changing their expectations of Lagway being the program-changing quarterback he was hyped up to be. In 15 career games, Lagway has a 17-to-15 touchdown-to-interception ratio, alongside a 63.7 percent career completion percentage.
He has not thrown for at least 300 yards in a game since last December in the Gasparilla Bowl. On the bright side, Saturday marked the first time in Lagway’s career that he had a completion percentage higher than 65 percent against a Power Four opponent.
Despite the struggles against LSU, Napier never considered pulling Lagway and going to backup quarterback Tramell Jones.
“No, I don’t subscribe to that theory. DJ’s our quarterback. He’s one of the best quarterbacks in the country,” Napier said. “He made some tough, good decisions tonight, but he also made some bad decisions tonight. … And, you’re talking about a guy who, he’s a rookie himself.”
Loading ...Not running the Baugh
For the second week in a row, Florida abandoned the run and the fan base is left wondering why arguably its best player, Jadan Baugh, was not used more. Baugh had 10 carries for 46 yards on a night when his starting quarterback attempted 49 passes. In no world should a team throw the ball that many times in a one-score game.
Also, why is Baugh not being more of a focal point?
“I think Ja’Kobi [Jackson] had carries too, I think we had 27 rushes, nine of which were DJ [Lagway],” Napier said. “Seventy-six plays, look, I think some of that was when the game became a two-score game. I’d be interested to see what it was at half. It was 13-10 at half.”
At halftime, Florida had 12 rushes for 33 yards in the first two frames, which is uncharacteristic of what the offense usually wants to do. When Florida’s offense is in gear, it’s a balanced attack, using the run game to set up the big plays down the field.
Similar to Week 2, Baugh’s production dropped in the second half. Against USF, eight of his 18 carries came in the second half.
On Saturday, Baugh had four carries for 27 yards. Napier shrugged off the question and hinted that the team needs to go back and watch the tape to see what other factors went into his low number of carries.
“When we watch the tape, there are other decisions that contribute to him not running,” Napier said.
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Defense Still Can’t Get Pressure
There is no doubt that, through the first three weeks of the season, the defense has played well enough to win. As a unit, they held a talented LSU offense to 13 points, 316 total yards, and forced one turnover. Florida has only allowed two touchdowns this season, which makes the margin razor thin when talking about how close this team has been from being 3-0 instead of 1-2.
“Man, I feel like it was a dogfight all game. I feel like they’re a great team, we’re a great team,” linebacker Myles Graham said. “We beat ourselves, honestly. On offense, defense, we’ve got to play better on both sides of the ball. It’s a team game.”
But one missing piece that continues to hold this unit back is the lack of quarterback pressure. A year after sacking LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier seven times, Florida did not record any Saturday.
Outside of one quarterback hurry, Nussmeier had a relatively clean pocket the whole game.
“I think it had something to do with the scheme. But it’s not because our rush has gotten any worse or anything,” Graham said. “They were getting the ball out pretty quickly, so we had to play tighter coverage so our rush could get there quicker.”
Florida has still recorded only one sack on the year, which came against USF. Not to add salt to the wound, but Florida might be without its best interior lineman, Caleb Banks, again after he re-injured his foot. Banks left halfway through the third, seen limping into the locker room and came back on the field aided by crutches.
Napier said postgame that he would have more information on the senior defensive lineman Monday.
Napier’s Time is Running Short
The tightrope Napier is currently on is getting thinner by the minute. With frustration growing around the fan base and university, Napier is running out of time to dig himself out of the hole he’s in. The loss puts Napier’s UF record at 20-21 and 1-3 against LSU, which only makes his hot seat even hotter.
Florida is now 4-10 on the road under Napier, with a gigantic non-conference clash at No. 4 Miami next Saturday, which could be the defining moment of the Napier era, followed by road trips to No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 13 Ole Miss and Kentucky.
One of Napier’s biggest issues is his play-calling, with some questionable decisions made through the first three games. But focusing on the LSU game, Napier having his young quarterback, who was making his first road SEC start in Death Valley, throw the ball 49 times is the ultimate head-scratcher.
Napier already said last week he will continue calling the plays, but the offensive production needs to start showing. The Gators are averaging 13 points a game against FBS opponents and rank 66th in total offense.
It should not be ignored how well Napier has done recruiting and getting his team and staff to buy in. But at some point, on-the-field results matter, and what Napier is doing is not cutting it.
“That’s a big picture question, and I think right now it’s more about today. It’s more about what we do tomorrow, and I think that’s what we’ve got to get consumed with,” Napier said after the USF game. “I’m consumed with doing the best job I can do for the players, leading the staff, and getting the football fixed because ultimately that’s going to decide how far we go around here.”
Category: College Football, Feature Sports News, Gators Football, SEC
