GAINESVILLE, Fla. — It’s never happened during the BCS era and it’s only occurred nine times in the history of college football. You can make it 10 on Saturday when third-ranked LSU travels to Gainesville to face No. 11 Florida in a contest featuring the last two BCS National Champions.
Since the inception of the BCS in 1998, the champions from the two previous years have never meet the following season, but LSU and Florida will change that this weekend. The Gators, the 2006 national champion, and LSU, the 2007 champ, will square off in a nationally televised prime time contest on CBS.
The last time two champions squared off the following year came in 1990 when Notre Dame (1988 champ) beat Miami (1989 champ), 29-20, in South Bend, Ind.
LSU, winners of six straight games overall dating back to last season, is 4-0 overall and 2-0 in league play. LSU hasn’t played since a 34-24 win over Mississippi State on Sept. 24. Florida is 4-1 overall and 2-1 in conference action following last week’s win over Arkansas.
GameDay Info
LSU at Florida
Saturday, Oct. 11
7 p.m. CDT
CBS
Conditions: Scattered Storms
High: 83?
Low: 69?
GameTime: 76?
Rain: 30% chance
Humidity: 76%
Wind: NE 8 mph
Forecast
Sunset: 7:03 p.m. ET
Kickoff: 8:08 p.m. ET
Driving Directions (Baton Rouge to Gainesville)
A year ago, LSU rallied for a 28-24 win over Florida in Tiger Stadium in a game that saw the Tigers successfully convert all four of its fourth-down attempts, with two of those coming on the final game-winning drive of the contest.
Now, a year and five days later, LSU and Florida will renew its rivalry in Gainesville in a game that will go a long way in determining who will represent the east and the west in the Southeastern Conference Championship game. Kickoff is set for 7:08 p.m. CT.
The Tigers have worked hard when the time came to practice to avoid the distractions that always arise when a game of this magnitude is hyped so heavily.
“I have liked our preparation this week,” said LSU Coach Les Miles. “We’ve looked sharp in practice and we’ve been able to get a lot accomplished. We’re playing a great team. We look forward to that matchup and we want to play our best this week.
Florida is led by 2007 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow, but the Gator defense has allowed just 11 points per game.
“If you look at where they rank defensively, they’re ranked pretty well,” said Miles. “I think their linebackers are really strength of theirs and they play very well within the scheme of their defense.”
The Tigers offense will try to counter with their running game led by Charles Scott, who ranks first in the SEC in rushing with 133 yards a game. Freshman quarterback Jarrett Lee will be making his first-ever road start. Three weeks ago on the road, he led the Tigers back from a 14-3 halftime deficit to beat Auburn, 26-21.
“The best thing we did was take him to a really hostile environment at Auburn,” Miles said of Lee. “We’ll see how he responds to a similar situation. We put the crowd noise on (at practice). We called the plays he’s going to run and put the guys in there with him. We said, ?let’s go play and let’s have fun.’”
LSU will still be on the road for another week before returning to Tiger Stadium as they travel on Oct. 18 to South Carolina. The game time and television for that game is expected to be announced on Sunday afternoon.