Gators Head To Death Valley For Key SEC Matchup
BATON ROUGE (CBSMiami) – The Florida Gators will put their bowl game hopes on the line Saturday when they travel to Death Valley to play the LSU Tigers in a Saturday afternoon matchup you can see only on CBS4.
The Gators are unbeaten in conference play and have only lost one game overall, a close loss to the Miami Hurricanes. A victory over LSU in Death Valley would not only bolster Florida's SEC credentials, but it would also put Florida back into the hunt for the BCS national championship game.
For LSU, the Tigers are also undefeated in conference play and can ill-afford to lose a conference game if the team has any hope of catching the Alabama Crimson Tide for the top spot in the SEC Western Division.
Unlike years past, LSU brings an especially potent offense into the Florida game on Saturday. The Tigers are third in the conference in scoring, averaging 45.5 points per game and quarterback Zach Mettenberger has the offense humming on all cylinders to the tune of 488.8 yards per game, fourth best in the SEC.
But LSU is going to run into one of the stingiest defenses not only in the Southeastern Conference, but the entire nation. Florida's defense is tied with Alabama for first in the SEC (fourth in the nation) in scoring, allowing just 12.2 points per game.
The Gators are getting it done on both sides of the ball allowing just 217 total yards per game this year, second best in the nation. LSU will try to run the football, but will be trying to get a running game going against the second best run defense in the country.
Florida will be sending out quarterback Tyler Murphy. He'll be making his first start in Tiger Stadium, but has completed 72 percent of his passes for 530 yards, five touchdowns, and just one interception.
The Gators have won 16 of 30 games played in LSU's Tiger Stadium. LSU head coach Les Miles is 4-4 vs. Florida in his career. The two schools have split their last 10 meetings. Incidentally, Florida head coach Will Muschamp was the defensive coordinator at LSU under coach Nick Saban.
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