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<p>Florida linebacker Kylan Johnson celebrates during UF's 16-10 win over LSU on Nov. 19, 2016.</p>

Florida linebacker Kylan Johnson celebrates during UF's 16-10 win over LSU on Nov. 19, 2016.

BATON ROUGE, La. — One after the other, they ran off the sideline.

Antonio Callaway.

Jordan Scarlett.

Tyrie Cleveland.

Hands raised. Towels waving.

The play was over. The game was over. And the talk — the overdone banter about Florida being afraid of LSU and Tiger Stadium, supplemented with passive aggressive Tweets and a month’s worth of pent-up hostility — was over.

LSU’s players had turned a postponed game in October into a rallying cry: the game wasn’t played, so therefore Florida was afraid to play.

Tigers defensive end Arden Key said as much on Monday, calling the Gators “scared” to travel to Death Valley.

But as LSU’s stadium stood empty an hour after the final play, having just undergone its worst upset loss in recent memory, Florida defensive lineman Caleb Brantley didn’t look scared.

In fact, he leaned casually against the field’s railing with a wide grin.

And then he laughed.

“Like, you gonna come at us and say we scared, when y'all didn't want to come to Gainesville?” he said. “We just gonna come whoop y'all in y'all's stadium.”

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He laughed again, a sound that reverberated throughout Death Valley.

Just a couple hours earlier, there were over 100,000 LSU fans sitting in those stands, screaming and hoping and — after their players basically guaranteed a win — possibly even praying for the Gators’ demise.

What followed was complete madness.

On an epic Saturday afternoon in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the Florida Gators stopped the LSU Tigers at the goal line with the clock reading zero in the fourth quarter.

Florida’s sideline emptied. It’s players rushed the field and stayed there well after the final whistle. Callaway and cornerback Jalen Tabor danced and hollered, Nick Washington and CeCe Jefferson jumped and bounced and partied and Jim McElwain pulled Scarlett in for a hug.

They were SEC East champions.

The pressure had been lifted off of McElwain and his players, the same players the UF coach had defended for the past four weeks, and the same ones he defended a few minutes later in a cramped room near the visiting locker room at Tiger Stadium.

“It just shocks me that somebody would question the Gators,” McElwain said. “The way I look at it, (LSU) got what they deserved.

“And it should have been worse.”

Maybe.

Maybe McElwain came to that conclusion after watching the pregame warmups a few hours earlier, when several players from both teams met on the field and nearly started a fight.

Maybe it became clearer soon after that, when LSU running back Leonard Fournette was seen pushing UF defensive backs coach Torrian Gray near midfield, both forced to be separated by coaches.

Or maybe it was after the game’s very first play — the opening kickoff — when LSU linebacker Devin White ran down the field and grabbed UF linebacker Vosean Joseph by the helmet, forcefully ripping it off and earning a personal foul.

Regardless, the win was validation.

Validation in McElwain’s vision. His plan. His disregard for LSU’s disrespect.

After their 16-10 win and after hearing their coach’s words, Florida’s players felt vindicated.

“Coach Mac’s always right,” defensive lineman CeCe Jefferson said. “We don’t get involved with all the Twitter talk and all that.

“We let our play do the talking.”

Ian Cohen is the sports editor. You can contact him at icohen@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @icohenb.

Florida linebacker Kylan Johnson celebrates during UF's 16-10 win over LSU on Nov. 19, 2016.

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