That may have been one of the more complete victories in the history of the Les Miles era. Dominance or damn near close to it in all three phases, to the point where it's kind of a shock to say Florida scored 11. Two more SEC wins remain, but let's be real the countdown is on...
- That was easily the most dominant game LSU's offensive line has played all season. Saying that the running game averaged 4.9 per carry doesn't seem to completely describe the way the average run featured a huge hole and at least 3-5 yards of open space for the running back. And again, that was against one of the most talented defensive fronts the Tigers will see this season. Don't let their play fool you.
- And when your offensive line and running game is that dominant, you get a team passer rating of 247. LSU threw when it wanted and threw the passes that Jarrett Lee and Jordan Jefferson throw well. The playcalling completely exploited Florida's defense, which was determined to stack the line of scrimmage.
- LSU threw the ball a grand total of 14 times, and while some may call that conservative, the reality is, why throw the ball more if you don't have to? Especially when your quarterbacks are clearly not the strength of your team.
- The three best play-all illustrations were Lee's two deep routes and Jefferson's bootleg pass to Shepard. Lee has a strong arm and throws the deep sideline routes well -- when a defense flashes man-to-man coverage, the chances of completing a deep throw off of play-action skyrocket. Likewise, calling a bootleg pass for Jefferson is exactly the type of gameplanning we expected to see. The boot pass to Russell Shepard gets the ball into the hands of an elusive open-field runner quickly. The coaching staff did a fantastic job of playing into both quarterbacks' strengths. If they can continue to do that LSU's passing game will only improve.
- That bootleg passing game can also be another way to create mismatches, by forcing linebackers to cover players like Shepard, DeAngelo Peterson and Spencer Ware/Michael Ford.
- Couple of misanthropic boos for Jefferson, but a dramatic decrease from last week. No surprise given the team's success (and his). Working him in for a few common-sense changeups can only help this offense. Though it would be nice to see the coaching staff actually send him into a huddle with the play, rather than send him in, than have him look back for a signal.
- Good on the offensive staff for sticking with Alfred Blue with the offensive line creating a ton of room for him. After the week his family has had, why not stick with a kid like that when he's having success?
- Florida had 12 possessions. Seven of those 12 ended after three plays and a punt. Two of them ended with a turnover in less than three plays and another ended on downs after 10 plays and gained all of 29 yards. That is what you call thorough defensive domination.
- LSU's defensive line again dominated, not so much in the tackles-for-loss category, but in terms of the number of short runs that were swallowed up by the Tiger front seven.
- The Gator offense almost seemed built on the ol' gambler's fallacy -- that if they kept feeding Chris Rainey the football, eventually he would find a way to break something. Yeah, it's easy to think a back with Rainey's speed is eventually going to get enough room but at some point you have to diversify that play-calling a little. And while I understand that the offense was down to a third-string quarterback, the Gators could have at least made LSU's secondary work a little more against the pass.
- I've generally been a fan of Will Muschamp, but I have to question his game-management after Florida's third possession, which featured one fourth-down conversion and another attempt via a fake punt. I understand that the Gators were entering this game short-handed, but that's no reason to coach your team like you believe 14-0 is an insurmountable deficit. Those fourth-down attempts sent the message that "we can't win this game if we don't score here," and the Gators heard their coach loud and clear.
- Speaking of punts, it's clear by now (both via repeated viewings and Les Miles' comments) that Brad Wing made the call to take off himself. And who can blame him? He took a solid three steps, saw nobody within 20 yards, and took off. Every punter should be capable of making the same read.
- As for the penalty call, honestly, I don't have a huge problem with the application of a rule that is completely stupid. The referees do, after all, have to enforce ALL of the rules. My only caveat is that I expect that rule to be likewise applied to any and all shows of any emotion on any and all plays going forward.