GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — With two defenders closing in and a strained left hamstring to protect, Florida quarterback DJ Lagway’s only option was to step up and let it fly.
Lagway’s 36-yard completion to Elijhah Badger was a thing of beauty and arguably the most important play in Florida’s season. It set up Ja’Kobi Jackson’s 1-yard scoring run and put the Gators ahead for good in the fourth quarter of a 27-16 victory over suddenly reeling No. 21 LSU on Saturday.
“Elite play,” Florida coach Billy Napier said. “God blessed that young man.”
Lagway returned after missing most of Florida’s last two games and delivered enough clutch plays for the Gators to earn their first series victory since 2018.
Jadan Baugh’s 55-yard scoring scamper with 3:48 remaining essentially sealed it and put Florida (5-5, 3-4 Southeastern Conference) on the verge of becoming bowl eligible.
The Gators had dropped eight in a row against ranked opponents and were 1-10 under coach Billy Napier in rivalry games. But this was the kind of performance that has mostly eluded Napier during his three seasons in Gainesville.
“You’ve got to be a tough guy, and you got to be up for the challenge,” Napier said. “This group has proven they’re up for that. It’s harder than ever in my opinion. These guys could have pointed fingers and splintered a long time ago. That’s what I’m most proud of.”
LSU coach Brian Kelly had few answers following his team’s third consecutive loss. Cameras caught Kelly screaming at receiver Chris Hilton early — he seemed to call him uncoachable — and getting yelled at late by receiver Kyren Lacy.
“This is a simple exercise of do you want to fight or not?” Kelly said after the game. “Do you want to fight and take responsibility as coaches and players that we’re not playing well and we’re struggling right now? … There’s a rough spot here that we have to fight through and we have to do it together.”
Florida’s defense, played together and deserved every accolade. The unit sacked Garrett Nussmeier seven times — one more than LSU (6-4, 3-3) surrendered in its first nine games combined — and allowed just 16 points despite being on the field for 92 plays and more than 41 minutes.
It may have helped that last week’s 49-17 drubbing at then-No. 5 Texas was humbling and humiliating.
“We knew that wasn’t our brand of football that we played in Texas,” Florida linebacker Shemar James. “That left a bad taste that we had.”
The game started to turn in Florida’s favor when T.J. Searcy sacked Nussmeier late in the third quarter. Nussmeier fumbled, one of his linemen scooped it out of the air and then fumbled again. Caleb Banks recovered, one of several huge plays for the defensive tackle.
The Gators went backward from there despite the solid field position and ended up punting. But Jeremy Crawshaw pinned the Tigers inside the 10.
Florida then forced a punt and started another drive in LSU territory. This time, Lagway made the biggest play of the night.
“DJ, he’s a dude for sure,” James said. “He showed grit tonight. He came out and made pretty good throws and commanded the offense, and that’s what we were kind of missing. We’re very fortunate to have DJ on our team.”
The Takeaway
LSU: Kelly’s streak of 10-win seasons will end at seven. Kelly won double-digit games in each of his last four years at Notre Dame and extended it with consecutive 10-win seasons in Baton Rouge. But losing three in a row to Texas A&M, Alabama and Florida make it impossible to get past nine and will surely lower his approval rating with the team’s frustrated fanbase.
Florida: The Gators will have to win one of their final two games, against Ole Miss and at Florida State, to become bowl eligible for the second time in Napier’s three seasons. Florida is trying to avoid its fourth consecutive losing season.
Up Next
LSU: Hosts Vanderbilt next Saturday.
Florida: Hosts Ole Miss in its home finale next Saturday.
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