- Box Score
- LSU Game Notes
- LSU Head Coach Nick Saban Quotes
- LSU Player Quotes
- Florida Head Coach Steve Spurrier Quotes
- Florida Player Quotes
BATON ROUGE — Quarterback Rex Grossman led the second-ranked Florida Gators to a 37-9 victory over the 18th-ranked LSU Tigers in front of a stadium-record 92,020 on Saturday night in Tiger Stadium.
Rohan Davey, who was injured just before halftime, did not play in the second half after a hyper-extended left knee. Davey passed for 154 yards on 7-of-17 attempts and an interception. In his place, redshirt freshman Matt Mauck played valiantly, completing 11-of-22 passes for 132 yards and rushing for 37 yards on seven carries.
The LSU defense allowed only 16 points over the final three quarters after allowing 21 in the first quarter.
Grossman passed for the most yards against the Tigers in school history, as he completed 22-of-32 passes for 464 yards and five touchdowns. Florida gained 632 yards of total offense to LSU’s 423.
LSU fell to 2-2 overall and 0-2 against a pair of Top 10 SEC schools. Florida improved to 5-0 and 3-0 in SEC play.
Just as it did in 47 percent of its possessions coming into the game, the Florida Gators drove down the field 55 yards in six plays for a 13-yard touchdown pass from Grossman to Taylor Jacobs to take a 7-0 lead. Robert Gillespie’s 45-yard kickoff return began the drive that took 3:01 off the clock.
The Tigers began their first time from the 23-yard line and immediately went to wide receiver Josh Reed for 25 yards underneath the deep Florida zone. After two rushes netted minus-3 yards for LaBrandon Toefield, Davey went back to Reed for 30 more yards on the same route.
However, a Florida sack by Kennard Ellis and Ian Scott gave LSU a third-and-23 from Florida’s 27 yard line. Davey’s scrambling heave to Michael Clayton in the corner of the end zone came up just short and the Tigers were forced to settle for a 44-yard John Corbello field goal.
LSU cut the lead to 7-3 and took 4:23 off the clock, driving 50 yards in 12 plays.
Again, Florida moved the ball at will on its next drive, as Grossman was 3-for-3 for 68 yards and a 34-yard touchdown pass to Reche Caldwell for a 14-3 lead.
On the first play of the ensuing drive, Davey was intercepted for the first time in 125 attempts, as safety Todd Johnson dropped into coverage and picked off a ball intended for Reed. Davey’s previous interception came against Florida in 2000.
Just as it looked like LSU had the Gators corralled with a second-and-25 from the 37 yard line, Grossman hit Gaffney in stride for a 63-yard completion on a fly pattern. Florida led 21-3. The drive took only 28 seconds.
On third-and-23, LSU came up with some fire of its own, as Davey scrambled out the reach of Alex Brown and hit a leaping Reed for 39 yards and a first down at the Florida 29-yard line. With the catch, Reed moved from ninth to seventh on the LSU career receiving yardage list with 1,749, ahead of Carlos Carson (1,728 yards from 1977-79) and Larry Foster (1,747 from 1996-99).
On third-and-15, Davey then hit Clayton between two defenders for 30 yards down to the Florida 4-yard line. Pass interference was called on Florida in the endzone, giving LSU second-and-goal from the 2. Toefield scored his seventh touchdown of the season over the left side to cut the lead to 21-9. Corbello’s point after attempt was blocked by Lito Sheppard. The 17-play drive covered 87 yards and lasted 6:26.
The score was only the second touchdown Florida had allowed in the first half during the 2001 season.
For the first time in the game, the LSU defense stopped the Gators with 12:20 remaining in the first half. Cornerbacks Demetrius Hookfin and Eric Damond had key plays to finally thwart the juggernaut.
On the next LSU possession, a personal foul after a third-and-9 incompletion from Davey put Donnie Jones deep in LSU territory for his first punt of the afternoon and gave Florida field position inside LSU territory at the 48.
The field position allowed Florida to drive six plays in 2:00 for a 7-yard touchdown to Gaffney. The 40-yard PAT was missed after a Gaffney personal foul and a false start. Florida led 27-9.
LSU took over at its 25 yard line after a offsides penalty on Florida. Jerel Myers caught his first pass of the game to give LSU a first down at the 35-yard line. On third-and-10 from the 35, Davey was sacked and injured.
Florida took over at the 37-yard line, and Grossman went back to work, hitting Caldwell for 24 yards and Walker for 19 to the LSU 17. After a 5-yard penalty for delay, a 13-yard pass to Gaffney to the 7-yard line set up what seemed to be another score. However, Damien James stepped in front of Grossman’s pass and ran it back 37 yards out of the endzone.
After one play, Davey exited to the LSU lockerroom to have his knee examined. In his place, Mauck made his first appearance as a Tiger and drove LSU down the field 43 yards. However, Florida stopped LSU on third and fourth-and-1 plays to take over at the 20.
Florida drove the ball down to the LSU 22 before missing a field goal from 39 yards to end the half.
LSU started the second half with Mauck at quarterback. He began by completing an 8-yard pass to Reed and a 24-yarder to Myers two plays later. On third-and-4 from the Florida 40, tight end Robert Royal was guilty of offensive pass interference and LSU had to punt. Jones landed the ball softly at the 4-yard line.
Three plays later, Florida was forced to put after a direct snap to Gillespie earned only two yards on third down.
With its best field position on the afternoon, LSU took over at the Florida 45-yard line. A second-down pass from Mauck to Clayton gave LSU 10 yards and a first down, followed by a 11-yard scramble by Mauck to the 24. On third down, Mauck was intercepted at the 11-yard line by Sheppard.
Florida advanced the ball 33 yards after Gaffney broke a tackle and ran to the 50-yard line. Grossman struck for 16 yards to Taylor and 13 yards to Caldwell. A solid defensive effort kept Florida out of the endzone, but Jeff Chandler hit his first field goal of the day from 42 yards to increase the lead to 30-9.
After an LSU drive ended in Florida territory, the Gators began to attack again. Eighty-seven yards and six plays later, Grossman had his fifth TD pass of the day, this time to Walker for a 37-9 lead. The score was on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Florida capped off a 10-play, 62-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown pass from Brock Berlin to Kelvin Kight.
Henderson ran 50 yards off tackle in the final two minutes before Mauck connected with Corey Webster for 19 yards to the Florida 23. Clayton then caught a 22-yard strike from the former baseball pitcher to the Florida 1, and Domanick Davis ran to the right post of the endzone with 42 seconds remaining to complete the scoring. The PAT was again blocked. LSU trailed 44-15.
LSU recovered an on-sides kick at its 46-yard line, but went nowhere as the game ended.
LSU returns to action on Oct. 16 when it travels to Kentucky for the first of two SEC road contests.
- Another Tiger Stadium attendance record fell as 92,010 witnessed the game, breaking the previous record of 91,782 set in this year’s season opener against Tulane. LSU lost for the first time when drawing 90,000 or more and is now 4-1 in those games.
- Junior WR Josh Reed continued his ascent up the Tiger receiving charts. He recorded his 11th career 100-yard game, moving him into sole possession of second place in that category, and just two behind record holder Wendell Davis.
- Reed moved from 9th to a 6th-place tie on the all-time LSU receiving yardage list. Reed tied Abram Booty at 1,768 career yards and passed Larry Foster (1,747) and Carlos Cason (1,728).
- Sophomore WR Corey Webster made his first career catch in the fourth quarter, catching two passes for 24 yards.
- Sophomore RB Devery Henderson’s 50-yard run in the fourth quarter is a career long and it made him the Tigers’ leading rusher on the game with 86 yards on six carries.
- Freshman WR Michael Clayton, who caught an early TD pass at Tennessee last week, made his first career start. Clayton becomes the first true freshman to start a game this season. Clayton caught a season-high five passes for 79 yards. Clayton also recovered an onside kick late in the game.
- Senior FS Ryan Clark made his 27th consecutive start, dating back to the start of the 1999 season and including last year’s Peach Bowl. Junior LB Trev Faulk extended his consecutive starts streak to 24, while Jerel Myers has started 26 of 27 career games, not starting only the 1999 season finale against Arkansas.
- Senior QB Rohan Davey threw his first interception of the season in the first quarter, breaking a streak of 125 straight passes without being picked off. Davey’s last pickoff came in last year’s loss at Gainesville.
- Sophomore QB Matt Mauck made the first appearance of his LSU career in the second quarter when Davey hyper-extended his left knee. Mauck played the entire second half and completed 11 of 22 passes for 132 yards.
- Davey also went over the 2,000-yard mark for his career, hitting on 7-of-17 passes for 154 yards to bring him to 2,049.
- John Corbello’s 44-yard field goal in the first quarter is his first from beyond 40 yards this season after missing his previous two attempts against Tulane (41) and Tennessee (49).
- Senior DE Kyle Kipps joined the Tigers’ three permanent captains-Trev Faulk, Robert Royal and Rohan Davey–at midfield for the pregame coin toss.
- The 21 points allowed by the Tigers in the first quarter are the most since yielding 21 in the opening period to Mississippi State in 1980 at Jackson.
- In fact, the 21 points in the opening quarter eclipsed the most points allowed in the first HALF by a Nick Saban team at LSU; the previous high was 17, scored by Florida and Mississippi St. last year.
- Florida’s 27 first half points are the most allowed by LSU since Arkansas scored 28 in the first half of the 1998 season finale.
- The 44 total points are the most allowed by a Nick Saban team at LSU, eclipsing last year’s 41-9 loss at Gainesville.
LSU Head Coach Nick Saban Quotes
“It’s always disappointing to lose a game the way we did today. That’s as a good an offensive football team as I’ve seen in college football. We will take this opportunity a chance to look at our mistakes and become a better football team.”
“We gave up some big plays on long yardage situations. Its a combination of trying to play zone and trying to get a pass rush. We just need to get better at that part of our game. We played the best there is (Florida) at that part of the game today I think.”
“That’s a really good football team we played today. You’d like to think we could play better, but you have to give them credit for what they were able to accomplish. I thought it was important in this game today that we come out and play well early. I thought it was important that our players gain confidence that they could play well. I don’t know if deep down inside we had the confidence we needed to play against a great football team tonight. I really think they are one of the elite two or three teams in the country. We probably would have has to play above ourselves today to beat Florida.”
“Rohan (Davey) will probably be questionable for next week’s game. Dwayne Pierce will be questionable also. I think the rest of our guys will be O.K. Jack Hunt did not play because he had an abdominal strain.”
“We have to take the games we have moving forward one game at a time. We need to play better and find out what we’re made of. We’ve played two good football teams now back-to-back. I think its time for everybody to look in the mirror and say this is what I need to do to get better and get it done.”
Strong Safety Damien James
“(Rex) Grossman is a great quarterback who?s surrounded by a great offensive coordinator and receivers. We came out kind of flat and didn?t do the things that we needed to do in order to win. We definitely need to improve on our defensive pass coverage.”
“All of us have made mistakes, but it is time to go out there and work a little harder. We need to get in position to make plays next week against Kentucky.”
Free Safety Ryan Clark
“We gave up a lot of first downs early. Most of those were great calls by Coach Spurrier. He is a great coach who has great players to work with. That?s why they are No. 2 in the country. That?s what we expected coming into this game. Hopefully, this isn?t the last time that we get to face them.”
Defensive end Jarvis Green
“A lot of the times, it seemed as if they had the perfect play called, again and again. At the last minute we would get in his (Grossman) face, but we couldn?t bring him down. We tried to talk to him, but he just stayed with his gameplan. We would call him Heisman, because he certainly proved that tonight. This is just a learning process and we just have to keep our head up and keep moving.”
Linebacker Bradie James
“We got beat by a good team tonight. My hat is off to Florida. There are a lot of things that we need to work on. That game is over now. The 24-hour rule is in effect. We are looking forward to learning from our mistakes and getting ready for the SEC West.”
QB Matt Mauck
I haven?t played in four years so I was pretty excited to get in there. Like anything I think you can always do better. I think I did some things fairly well and obviously we only scored one touchdown so I didn?t do enough.”
Florida is a great team so you cant really say that we should have won or not and they pretty much just beat us. I think that we can take out of this is that we think we are a pretty good team and it was an SEC team but they are not in our division so hopefully it doesn?t hurt us that bad.
WR Jerel Myers
We still felt that Rohan was in the game because Matt can do the same things that Rohan Davey can and we were ok with it and we just tried to pick it up as the game went along and we had no problem with it.
We as receivers tried to run routes and get as open as well as we good and some things didn?t go our way.
WR Josh Reed
Matt did real well. He came out there poised and I think he surprised a lot of people. Everyone got behind Matt and rallied around him. We told him to stay patient and keep your poise.
Florida Head Coach Steve Spurrier Quotes
“I think that was the best that Rex (Grossman) has played. He was really sharp throwing it all over the place, picking out his receivers and that was his best thus far. Maybe he?ll have a better one down the road, but the receivers ran good routes and caught the ball. Our tight ends got the ball thrown to them a little bit and it seemed like we had a lot of good plays on at the right time.”
“Rex picked it up today. He picked the guys out and they are running really good routes now. We have good receivers and we had good protection. Hopefully this will continue.”
“We got out of the game healthy. Rex twisted his ankle a little bit early, but I think he?s going to be fine. On defense, it wasn?t our best game of the year, but we still played well. We gave up some yards here and there. We gave up some third down and 30’s, and we have to work on our pass coverage a little bit.”
“We had a good defensive day. We only gave up 15 points and we?ll win most of the time when you only give up 15. The entire team played a good game. It wasn?t perfect. We left a few points out, just like last week, but we got plenty. So, hopefully, when we need all of the points, we?ll be able to get them.”
“I?m proud of the team. The guys had good practices and we were ready to play.”
ON REX GROSSMAN?S PLAY OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKS
“He?s got a good idea of what?s happening out there and where all of his receivers are going. He?s looking at the defense and picking out the guy that has the best chance to catch the ball.”
ON THIS CORE OF RECEIVERS POSSIBLY BEING HIS BEST EVER
“Oh, their right there. They?re getting there. On the interception, Taylor (Jacobs) fell down on the interception and that was one bad play. On the goal line, Taylor just stumbled out of his break and Rex zinged it in where he was supposed to, but that was the interception. Other than that, the receivers were pretty good the entire day.”
“What was amazing was the ones that he (Grossman) dropped in there on some pretty good coverage. He was dropping passes in right over fingertips and so forth. So, that was his best and hopefully he?ll continue to play that way. He faced a different defense in every game and teams will continue to throw different looks at him.”
FS TODD JOHNSON
On His Interception
“I was dropping down to the flat and Coach Hoke told me that the quarterback probably won?t see me if I drop down. I was able to slide underneath the receiver and just get me hands on the ball.”
“We knew coming in that they were the best in the conference at third down conversions. In the beginning we didn?t do to well, but I think we got better toward the end. They were making big completions 3rd and 20, 3rd and 25, so we have to improve on that.”
On nearly making a second interception
“I definitely should have caught it, it was right in my hands. I just dropped it.”
“This win shows a lot for us. Coach Hoke was saying all week that our leadership is going to really show. We knew that this was going to be a tough game coming in, and this was just one of the tough games on a long road of tough ones ahead of us.”
WR JABAR GAFFNEY
“Rex was playing the best I have ever seen. Right now it seems like he can do no wrong out there. He has a great rhythm with all the receivers, and he is really in a groove. The running backs are doing well too, our offense is really moving now.”
“Well, the first quarter was big for us, we scored I think on our first three possessions. That is big to come out and put 21 on the board like that.”