#2 Florida 44, #20 LSU 15
AP Recap
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA (TICKER) -- Rex Grossman started the season with four straight 300-yard games. He was merely getting warmed up.
Grossman passed for a school-record 464 yards and five touchdowns as the second-ranked Gators continued to look unstoppable in a 44-15 Southeastern Conference rout of No. 20 Louisiana State.
"I think that was the best that Rex has played," Florida coach Steve Spurrier said. "He was really sharp throwing it all over the place, picking out his receivers, and that was his best thus far."
Danny Wuerffel held the previous Florida mark of 462 yards set against Arkansas in 1996.
LSU (2-2, 0-2 SEC West) had hoped to become the first team to shut down Florida this season. Instead, the Tigers became the latest club to be overwhelmed by the Gators' high-powered offense.
Florida (5-0, 3-0 East) came into the game ranked first in the nation in total offense, second in scoring and first in passing.
Grossman, who completed 22-of-32 passes, threw three touchdowns in the first quarter, staking Florida to a 21-0 lead. The sophomore was 7-of-8 for 186 yards in the opening 15 minutes alone.
In just five games, Grossman has passed for 1,865 yards and 20 touchdowns with only three interceptions. Saturday marked his second straight five-TD game.
"He's got a good idea of what's happening out there and where all the receivers are going," Spurrier said. "He's looking at the defense and picking out the guy that has the best chance to catch the ball."
Florida gained 632 yards, the second straight week it has gone over 600 yards. The Gators amassed 640 in last week's 52-0 drubbing of Mississippi State, their highest total ever in an SEC contest.
Jabar Gaffney and Reche Caldwell each had 100-yard receiving games for the Gators. Gaffney recorded his 100th career reception with his touchdown in the first quarter and added a second score in the second.
Gaffney grabbed five passes for 164 yards and Caldwell had six receptions for 120 yards.
"They're as good an offensive football team as I've seen in college football," LSU coach Nick Saban said. "We'll take this opportunity to look at our mistakes and become a better football team."
Brock Berlin replaced Grossman in the fourth quarter and tossed an eight-yard TD pass to Kelvin Knight with 2:32 remaining in the fourth quarter. Earlier in the week, Spurrier joked that Berlin might be the only backup in the country to have a TD pass in every game.
While Florida's offense may be the best in the country, the Gators also showed they can play defense. LSU did not get its second touchdown until the final minute.
"We had a good defensive play," Spurrier said. "We only gave up 15 points and we'll win most of the time when you only give up 15. It was perfect. We left a few points out there, just like last week, but we got plenty."
Safety Todd Johnson picked off Rohan Davey in the first quarter -- Davey's first interception in 125 passes. Ironically, his last was against Florida last season. Davey suffered a bruised left knee in the second quarter and did not play in the second half.
"Rohan will probably be questionable for next week's game," Saban said.
Florida forced two other turnovers deep in its own territory to prevent any chance of an LSU comeback.
LSU tried to rally in the second quarter, closing to 21-9 on LaBrandon Toefield's two-yard TD run with 12:58 remaining in the first half.
After Grossman's seven-yard TD pass to Gaffney made it 27-9, LSU again drove into Florida territory late in the first half. But Domanick Davis was stopped for no gain on 4th-and-1 from the 20 with a minute left.
Jeff Chandler kicked a 42-yard field goal for Florida with 4:20 left in the third quarter before Grossman and Aaron Walker connected for a five-yard TD strike that made it 37-9 six seconds into the fourth quarter.
"Grossman is a great quarterback who's surrounded by a great offensive coordinator and receivers," LSU strong safety Damien Jones said. "We came out kind of flat and didn't do the things we needed to do in order to win." |
