Behind the Box Score: Florida

One of the biggest games of the year, and I missed it. I would like to be able to say I didn't see a single play, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate. Heck, I saw most of the first quarter! I mean, not all of it or anything, but I was able to see Tre White exercise some terrible decision making in the punt game. That's about when we changed the channel to keep the Posette calm during early contractions.

I can't even say I missed the game for the birth of my son, as those contractions lasted for a little over 29 hours (you can bet that the Lil Poseur II will hear about that over the course of his life, especially when being threatening by his parents), and he would not get around to being born until the next night.

So, really, all I have is the box score (I'm watching the game as I write this). But this is the way most people experience games of teams they do not root for: they look at the box score and draw conclusions. So these opinions are literally based on nothing BUT the box score. I honestly don't know the rest of the story.

31-180. Fournette's rushing yards. The fact this was described as an unimpressive day by any human being speaks volumes to Fournette's massive ability. We're no longer impressed by a guy going for 180 yards against a top 10 team in the country. And he did it the hard way, as his longest carry was only 25 yards. This is battering ram performance. Just amazing. This might even be more impressive than some of his other games just because there was no home run on there.

55. Florida's total rushing yards. On 31 total carries, that means Florida averaged less than 2 yards per carry. The Gators' leading rusher, Kelvin Taylor, averaged 1.7 yards per carry. That's beyond dismal. LSU's run defense showed up. Good thing, because...

271. Treon Harris came off the bench to throw for 271 yards. He did it on 32 attempts, which is a pretty decent yards/attempt, but again, LSU's defense held an opposing QB to a lower completion rate: 17 for 32. That just screams an inconsistent night in which Harris was occasionally able to make a big play, but couldn't rely on his ability to make plays.

4-115. Malachi Dupre cracked the century mark! He also caught two huge pass plays, putting his stamp on the game. That's what he is on the team for: to make big plays. Good to see the big time recruit live up to the billing this weekend. More of this.

1:19. LSU scored a touchdown to go ahead by 14 with 2:24 left in the first half. Florida, sparked by an amazing catch, responded with a touchdown of their own in one minute. With 1:34 on the clock, this is when LSU tends to just go to the locker room, happy to have a 7-point lead. It took LSU 1:19, almost all of it on one play, to drive down the field and score again. That score mattered, and it's great to see LSU have the capacity to be a quick strike offense if the need arises.

2/9. LSU went 5 for 5 on 3^rd downs in the 2^nd quarter. Throughout the rest of the game? Just 2 for 9. And that's why LSU scored 28 points in the 2^nd quarter and only 7 for the rest of the game. LSU had six competitive drives in the second half, and five of them resulted in punts. Of those five, FOUR were three and outs. A team with the best running back on earth cannot let a two touchdown lead evaporate because they went three and out on four of six opportunities. The Tigers made a huge stop which should have iced the game with time running out, only to lose yards and punt the ball back. Appalling effort on that final possession.