It was the Jayden Daniels breakout game so many in Baton Rouge had been waiting for as the senior transfer dominated in all facets of the game. Daniels completed 23-of-32 passes for 349 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for 44 yards and three more scores. Daniels was simply fantastic from the opening drive, taking aggressive shots, using his legs when he needed to, and most importantly, getting his receivers the ball with space to operate.
He became the second LSU quarterback with six touchdowns in a game, joining Joe Burrow who did it five times as a Tiger.
Coming in, this felt like a game where LSU’s primary offense would have to come on the ground, but in fact, it was the play of the receivers and Daniels that led to such an efficient performance on Saturday night. Kayshon Boutte, Brian Thomas, Malik Nabers, and Jaray Jenkins all had big moments as Daniels spread the ball around to nine different receivers.
The most crucial guy LSU finally got going was Boutte, who brought in six catches for 115 yards on the night and was a consistent force for most of the first half as the purple and gold built their lead. Thomas also came up with two of the biggest catches of the night while running back Josh Williams led the way on the ground with 106 yards.
By the game’s end, LSU’s offense had eight passing plays of 15+ yards for 220 yards in total, as well as five rushes of 10+ yards for 95 in total. They were getting it done every which way as the offense scored touchdowns on its first six possessions, probably putting together its most efficient performance since that 2019 offense dominated college football.
Defensively was a different story as the Tigers struggled throughout the night, maintaining the Gators on the ground. Florida did come in, averaging over 200 yards on the ground, and got over that hurdle by the game’s end.
Tackling and poor angles taken by LSU contributed to some of the inconsistencies on offense as Florida scored touchdowns on three of its first four possessions. After LSU built out a 21-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, Florida cut it to 42-35 with 7:39 to go as an 81-yard touchdown run from Richardson highlighted the comeback as the Tigers displayed poor fundamentals in that stretch.
It would be up to the Tigers’ offense to close the game. In need of bleeding the clock, LSU’s offense evaded a huge mistake from Daniels as an interception was canceled out by a roughing the passer call. LSU leaned on its running attack down the stretch, which included a third-down completion to Brian Thomas followed by a huge fourth-down conversion from Josh Williams.
A 47-yard field goal from Damian Ramos was enough to separate LSU’s two scores and secure a win.
It was the kind of momentum-building performance this offense desperately needed and got LSU to 5-2 and will now welcome top 10 Ole Miss and its high-powered offense to Baton Rouge next week
