Down 11 points with less than a minute remaining, Garrett Nussmeier took a shotgun snap and dropped back. It was 3rd-and-6, and the Tigers desperately needed a first down to stay alive.
The LSU quarterback stepped up but was pressured immediately. He scrambled to his right, but edge rusher Tyreak Sapp matched him step for step before dragging him down well behind the line of scrimmage. One play later, the Gators made a fourth-down stop to seal a 27-16 victory on Nov. 16. It marked UF’s first victory over LSU since 2018.
Nussmeier and the Tigers haven’t lost since. LSU opened this season at No. 9 in the AP Poll and knocked off then-No. 4 Clemson 17-10 at Memorial Stadium, solidifying their position as the highest-ranked Southeastern Conference team in the nation.
Now, the Florida Gators have another opportunity to knock down their conference rivals and their senior quarterback. Last season, Florida’s defense sacked Nussmeier six times, a mark the veteran-led Gators will try to replicate.
Sapp has emerged as one of Florida’s team leaders early in the season. After UF’s 18-16 loss to South Florida Sept. 6, Sapp led a players-only meeting to reinforce “the standard” the Gators must uphold on the field.
“I was letting them know that I wasn't settling for that even if we did win,” Sapp said. “Just letting them know that's not us and we're going to be better than that, and we're going to come out better. I think the guys took advantage of it, and they heard me, and they were just excited to get back at it for the most part."
Sapp, who recorded four tackles-for-loss in last year’s win over LSU, will be rejoined on the defensive line by senior Caleb Banks. The 6-foot-6 interior presence returns Saturday after missing the first two games of the season with a foot injury. He logged a sack and two forced fumbles against the Tigers last year.
“He is super strong, and almost just as fast as me, and I think that helps, especially for an edge like me,” Sapp said about Banks. “Having an interior guy rushing like that and pushing the pocket and putting the rush on the quarterback… that's what he does. He does his job and he does it well."
While pressuring Nussmeier is one way to try to slow the Heisman candidate, his poise in the pocket has allowed him to extend plays at an elite level. Last season, Nussmeier posted a 9.8% pressure-to-sack conversion rate, according to PFF, good for second among draft-eligible quarterbacks. He was sacked only 10 times all season outside of the Nov. 16 matchup.
That poise has developed over his five years in Baton Rouge, where he backed up former Heisman winner Jayden Daniels before finally earning the starting job in 2024. Garrett, the son of New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier, led the SEC with 529 pass attempts last season and threw for 29 touchdowns.
“He has arm talent, he's accurate, he anticipates well,” head coach Billy Napier said. “I think he's got good football intelligence, and he’s one of the better quarterbacks in the country for a reason."
Napier also praised LSU’s offensive weapons around Nussmeier, headlined by a trio of experienced wideouts who transferred from other SEC programs.
Leading the group is junior Aaron Anderson, an Alabama transfer who led the Tigers with 884 receiving yards in 2024. Kentucky transfer Barrion Brown and Oklahoma transfer Nic Anderson also had productive collegiate careers before arriving at LSU for their senior seasons, posting 316 yards and 798 yards, respectively, in their most recent seasons.
Heading into one of the nation’s toughest battlegrounds, Tiger Stadium, and facing one of the country’s top players, the Florida defense is preparing to put everything into this critical matchup.
"It's a big opportunity,” junior linebacker Jaden Robinson said. “We have a chip on our shoulder coming into this week. We're playing with nothing to lose, so we're ready to attack."
Contact Max Bernstein at mbernstein@alligator.org. Follow him on X @maxbernstein23.
Max is the Summer 2025 sports editor. He is a third-year journalism sports & media major and in his fifth semester at The Alligator. He is a big South Florida sports fan and would die for Matthew Tkachuk.
