Gators Stock Report Entering Week 8 vs. South Carolina

Who's up and who's down entering South Carolina week?

The No. 9 Florida Gators traveled to the bayou this past Saturday and were sent home with their first loss of the season, falling to the No. 2 LSU Tigers by a score of 42-28. 

Over the first half and some change, the game appeared to be a shootout between both offenses as the score was tied 28-28 until late in the third quarter. But as defensive injuries "finally caught up to us," as head coach Dan Mullen said post-game, LSU's high-powered offense boosted the Tigers to victory, leaving Florida with no answer to slow their roll.

Who's stock is up, and who's is down, following Florida's loss to LSU?

Stock Up

Quarterbacks: Dan Mullen is confirmed a QB Whisperer. 

Both Kyle Trask and Emory Jones ran the offense effectively against a stingy LSU defense in Death Valley at night. Trask did his job and then some, although one fatal mistake cost his team the game on a late interception thrown into traffic. 

Besides the late pick, Trask threw for a career-high 310 yards and three touchdowns, and the redshirt junior showed improvement compared to his past few starts as he scaled the pocket better than he ever had in his career at Florida. 

Emory Jones was not bothered by the hostile environment and was inserted to provide a spark and overcome the offensive line's poor run blocking. He ran for 46 yards on nine carries and was 1/3 when throwing the ball, tossing a touchdown to running back Lamical Perine. Both QBs were ready to play at all times and ran the offense well, with little offensive drop-off when the two would sub in and out.

Van Jefferson: The redshirt senior wide receiver made some money and climbed up the draft boards after Saturday’s performance. 

Jefferson finished the day with eight catches for 73 yards and scored twice against LSU's secondary, one that is in the argument for "DBU" with Florida, among other schools. Jefferson gave freshman cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. a nice introduction to SEC football, as he caught four targets on the former five-star prospect on the opening drive of the second half. 

The senior creates separation with his excellent route running and footwork, and no defensive back that LSU put on him could cover him.

The Passing Game: Coach Mullen, it is time to go back to the Fun-N'-Gun. 

Running the ball is not working. The Gators couldn’t even run on a mediocre LSU front, but we’ll get into that later.

The offensive line is capable of pass blocking and Florida has passing-game weapons all over the field, even at running back! Florida won’t face another secondary as good as LSU’s this season unless they meet again in Atlanta, and the Gators have averaged 291.3 passing yards through seven games, currently ranking No. 22 in passing offense nationally.

The run game has been nonexistent all season, and Florida has the deepest passing game weapon arsenal in the nation. Just air it out, coach.

Stock Down

The run game: I am just as tired of writing about this as you are reading it, but it has to be mentioned. The Gators' run game has been awful, and the running backs only gained 70 yards on 19 carries (3.68 yards per carry) on Saturday night.

For perspective, Florida is ranked 93rd (of 130 FBS teams) in rushing offense nationwide. The Gators are averaging only 140.7 yards a game on the ground, which ranks 12th in the SEC.

The offensive line has done no favors to the running backs and has struggled to mesh all season. The interior linemen have struggled in their pulling blocks mightily, there's been little-to-no spacing in zone blocks, and power-blocking has been ineffective with no push to the second level.

Missing running back Dameon Pierce also contributed to the lack of the run attack against a mediocre LSU front seven, as he was sidelined with a concussion. Mullen tried to get it going with both Perine and Davis, but nothing worked all night.

The entire defense: The elite Florida defense was, well, very much not elite in Death Valley. 

Defensive ends Jabari Zuniga and Jonathan Greenard were both plagued with ankle injuries, and they couldn’t play when it mattered most. Without a violent pass rush off of the edge, defensive coordinator Todd Grantham was backed into a corner and he didn’t react well.

The Gators ended the game allowing 42 points - they had only allowed 57 in six games prior - and recorded zero sacks. Grantham was countered all night by the duo of Joe’s that are far from average in quarterback Joe Burrow on the field and passing game coordinator Joe Brady in the box. Burrow ended the game going 21 of 24, throwing for 293 yards and three touchdowns.

Florida’s defense was also gashed on the ground, as they gave up multiple big plays to running backs Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Ty Davis-Price when LSU went away from the pass. Missing tackles, breaking their containment, blowing coverages, and so on - Florida's defense collapsed when it mattered the most and failed to have an impact on the game as they caused no turnovers to aid the offense.

The defensive line was struggling, the linebackers were unable to have an impact, and the safety play was dreadful. LSU did what they want and never took their foot off the gas for the entire 60 minutes of play.