Tensions Flare Before Florida-LSU

Florida and LSU had multiple meetups during warmups ahead of Saturday's game.

The Florida Gators snapped a five-game losing streak to LSU last season. | Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

BATON ROUGE, La.-- No love appears to be lost between the Florida Gators and LSU Tigers.

Under two hours away from kickoff, tensions flared between the two teams as warmups took place.

In videos shared by 247 Sports' Zach Goodall, Florida Victorious' Nick de la Torre and the Athletic's Matt Baker, multiple huddles formed between the two teams throughout the first warmup period.

The first came near midfield by Florida's sideline, but it's unclear exactly how the meeting started.

Didn’t see how it started but Florida and LSU got into it (verbally at least) during pre-game warmups. Nearly every player on both teams ran toward the action. pic.twitter.com/U1Zyoa9eOh

— Zach Goodall (@zach_goodall) September 13, 2025

There was later a second meetup in the endzone on LSU's sideline after Florida did a lap on the field, eventually drawing a flag from an official, de la Torre reported.

Gators did a lap around the field. LSU players didn’t like it. pic.twitter.com/ytYN4fu09x

— Nick de la Torre (@delatorre) September 13, 2025

More pregame LSU-Florida shenanigans. I’m starting to think these teams don’t like each other pic.twitter.com/DW047CWe1A

— Matt Baker (@MattBakerCFB) September 13, 2025

Florida's rivalry with LSU, already a heated SEC matchup, has personal ties this season with a pair of former Gators now playing with the Tigers in edge rusher Jack Pyburn and corner Ja'Keem Jackson. Ironically, it was Pyburn playing peacemaker during the rendevouz near midfield.

Pyburn right in the middle https://t.co/ZKu13FbI9u pic.twitter.com/rfbiOE43oV

— Florida Gator Logo (@FGLogo_) September 13, 2025

While tensions flared, there did not appear to be anything overly physical that happened, but the two encounters adds to one of the SEC's best rivalries. Split at 34-34-3, Saturday's winner would take the series lead as the league heads into a nine-game schedule in 2026, putting the yearly rivalry at risk.

Not to mention, LSU, ranked No. 3 in the country, is looking for revenge after last year's loss in the Swamp, while Florida is looking to turn things around after a shocking loss at home last week to USF. Not to mention, Florida has not won a game in Death Valley since 2016 and has not won a night game in Death Valley since 2009.

“I think this is a phenomenal opportunity. I think the best thing about it is that we get to prove to ourselves who we really are," edge rusher Tyreak Sapp said on Wednesday. "I didn’t want to get the whole team worried about proving it to everybody else on the outside. We just want to prove it to ourselves because we know what we can do. That was just the main thing, coming out and just proving it to ourselves. We know what we can do. So, we gonna go do what we know, and we know how to go out there and play football and line it up and tee it up and that’s what we plan on doing.”

Kickoff between the Gators and the Tigers is at 7:30 p.m. with television coverage on ABC.