BATON ROUTE, La.- No. 1 Florida's offense didn't look its usual explosive self under the lights of Tiger Stadium, but no amount of crowd noise or nerves could keep the Gators' defense from showing up in the 13-3 win.
The Gators held No. 4 LSU to 162 total yards-allowing just 4 in the third quarter-and came up big when it mattered, holding the Bayou Bengals to one of 9 on third downs.
"Defensively, that's one of the best efforts I've ever seen as far as containing athletes," UF coach Urban Meyer said. "There's not a faster team we'll face this season."
On the Tigers' desperation drive late in the fourth quarter, they advanced near midfield but were forced into a 4th-and-13. The Gators blanketed LSU's receivers, leaving quarterback Jordan Jefferson to fend for himself.
Florida's pass rush eventually wrapped him up, all but wrapping up the game in the process.
"[Jefferson] always locks onto one guy, and we picked up on that tendency pretty quick," safety Will Hill said. "Once we shut down their two big receivers, that was pretty much it."
In the first half, the Gators held LSU to one of five on third downs and made a crucial stop when the Tigers threatened to take the lead in the second quarter.
After Florida committed back-to-back personal fouls, LSU had a 1st-and-goal from the 10-yard line. Two runs put the Tigers at the 2, trying to squeeze into the same end zone where Jacob Hester sunk the Gators' upset bid in 2007.
The Tigers turned to bruising running back Charles Scott, but defensive linemen Troy Epps and Jaye Howard combined to stuff him at the line of scrimmage. The stop limited LSU to a game-tying field goal and kept the crowd in check, and it exorcised some demons for the older players on the team.
"I thought about [the 2007 game] a lot," linebacker Ryan Stamper said. "After beating them the way we did last year, it really didn't redeem us because we still didn't beat them at home. I always had this date checked on the calendar."
