BATON ROUGE — If LSU’s offensive line wasn’t an unlikely enough of a hero against Florida, then consider the travails of the Tigers’ defense.

For that matter, how about a running game that has spent the season in the shadow of the Joe Burrow passing fireworks.

They all came up big Saturday night in a wild shootout that LSU finally won 42-28 over Florida with a game full of oddities.

“What a night,” LSU head coach Ed Orgeron said. “What a great night for LSU. Thank the fans. That was the best stadium I’ve ever seen.”

A rare Tiger Stadium crowd that was forced to stay until the very end just about saw it all.

Burrow was typically unshakable Burrow once again, completing 21 of 24 passes for 293 yards and three more touchdown throws.

Ja’Marr Chase had two of the scoring receptions in his seven-catch night for 127 yards. Justin Jefferson caught 10 for 123 yards and a touchdown.

Yawn. Those staples have become the  norm, almost old hat for the new, pass-happy LSU.

But alone they wouldn’t have been enough for the Tigers in a shoot-out of contrasting styles that spent the better part of three quarters waiting for a defense, any hint of defense, to step forward.

“We needed everything,” Orgeron said. “It took it to beat this football team.”

The numbers were gaudy again.

The Tigers scored 42 points while running only 48 plays while the Gators’ offense played keep-away with 38 minutes of possession time. But all LSU was doing was holding serve with another 511 yards of total offense against the SEC’s top-ranked defense.

Then they decided to play defense, keeping the Gators scoreless after Florida opened the second half with a near-effortless scoring drive for its only lead of the night, 28-21.

“Florida did a great job of controlling the tempo,” Burrow said. “I think that was probably their plan coming into the game, keep it away from us … but our defense stepped up in the second half and that was good to see.”

Helpless to get off the field for most of the game’s first 40 minutes, the Tigers suddenly got pressure on Florida quarterback Kyle Trask, turned the game around with back-to-back three-and outs, came up with the game’s only turnover in the game’s pivotal moment and then finished things off with a marathon goal line stand to remove all doubt with 49 seconds remaining.

“Tremendous adjustments by our defense and (coordinator) Dave Aranda)” Orgeron said. “Only seven points in the second half … We stated blitzing, we started playing man to man coverage. We had to put some heat on the quarterback.”

The unbeaten, No. 5-ranked Tigers (6-0) are sure to creep up in the ranking with the loss by No. 3 Georgia earlier in the day after LSU’s entertaining win that brought back memories of the season’s earlier 43-35 win over Texas.

They even added a reliable running game with 218 yards rushing — 134 by Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who also ran for two touchdowns — and being able to trust their defense.

 “Biggest stat of the night — no sacks,” Orgeron said.

In fact, LSU allowed zero sacks against a Florida defense that led the SEC in them and had no turnovers against the Gators, who led the nation coming in.

“We weren’t able to get any pressure on (Burrow),” said Florida coach Dan Mullen, who’s had the luxury of not blitzing much this season.

“That was about as flawless as an offensive line has played that I have ever seen,” Burrow said.

“The biggest thing is how well we rushed the football,” Burrow said. “That was unbelievable. I didn’t expect that. That just goes back to the offensive line that played their tails off for us that opened up the passing game for us.”

“They do a better job of running the ball than they get credit for,” Mullen said. “Their ability to run the ball made a big difference.”

The turning point in a wild game came when the LSU defense got the back-to-back three-and-outs after tying the score at 28-all midway through the third quarter and took the lead for good at 35-28 on Tyrion Davis-Price 33-yard run late in the third quarter.

“When we made that stop and started to get pressure on their quarterback, our crowd came alive and our guys got juiced,” Orgeron said.

Still, the Gators, who had 457 yards of their own, wouldn’t go away.

The volleying was back on when the Gators put together another grinding drive to open the fourth quarter.

But LSU freshman cornerback Derek Stingley made the play of the game midway through the fourth quarter with the Gators threatening the tie the score when he turned in the back of the end zone just in time for an acrobatic interception.

“Big time players make big time  plays in big games,” Orgeron said of Stingley, who was beaten badly on the touchdown to open the third quarter that gave the Gators a 28-21 lead. . “Give him credit, we made the play when we had to.”

Moments later Burrow found Ja’Marr Chase for a 54-yard scoring pass that put LSU up 42-28 with 5:43 to play.

Florida’s offense wasn’t bad either.

Trask threw for 310 yards and three touchdowns — wildcat-style  backup Emory Jones threw for another — while Lamical Perine rushed for 65 yards.

The shoot-out portion of the show was a study in contrasts.

At the half with the score tied 21-21 LSU was averaging one minute, 23 seconds for its three scoring drives, which used a total of only 11 plays. The Gators matched the Tigers on the scoreboard but used an average of 5:43 to do it. The shortest UF scoring drive was 11 plays.