LSU grits out a win at Florida after Gators miss a game-tying extra point

The Tigers started strong in Gainesville, and held on to win.

In the end, it was this snap that will haunt Florida, after losing the LSU, 17-16.

That Eddy Pineiro extra point missed after an errant hold that would have tied the game, and Florida wouldn’t find the end zone again.

There has been a very long leadup to this Florida-LSU game, and it had little to do with anything on the field. The two schools have been in a war of words for months since last year’s game, which became a public relations mess and a sniping match between both programs. There wasn’t much of that before the game, but Florida did schedule the Tigers on homecoming to add some spice to the proceedings.

There were some emotions for sure.

There was a key our friends at Alligator Army kinda hit on before the game.

Florida doesn’t have an elite rush defense — the Gators’ front is a good one, prone to allowing explosive plays, but not a great one, and the young linebackers Florida deploys don’t always set the edge correctly. But it’s not a glaring weakness, and LSU isn’t exactly ready to exploit it.

LSU did exploit that deficiency with 133 yards on the ground in the first half. They did a lot of it with jet sweeps going from side-to-side. But they struggled to convert it into points.

The Tigers went into halftime up 10-3, and both teams went to the break and came out swinging with efficient second half scoring drives. LSU added another touchdown to the total early in the third quarter and go up 17-3. Feleipe Franks would lead a touchdown drive in response to pull things to 17-10. In the end, it was the inability to put the ball in the end zone that doomed Florida, whether that extra point went in or not.