Testy Tigers return to Gainesville
Published 6:00 pm Saturday, October 7, 2017
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Maybe it’s just as well that LSU’s annual grudge match with Florida ended up away from Tiger Stadium.
Things are not good and the natives are restless on the home front with the Tigers off to a 3-2 start, which includes the worst-ever loss to Mississippi State in their only other Southeastern Conference game and a shocking upset at the hands of Troy last weekend.
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The home front didn’t figure to be much more hospitable than the raucous crowd the Tigers can expect in “The Swamp” at 2:30 p.m. today against the Gators (3-1, 3-0 SEC).
It tends to get loud, particularly when the Tigers are in town.
But head coach Ed Orgeron has been blocking out the “noise” all week, including a testy session on his weekly radio show that featured several annoyed callers.
“I get it,” Orgeron said. “I was born and raised here. I’ve been on that (fan’s) side. But it doesn’t faze me at all … because I’m strong enough to focus on the task at hand and what’s best for this football team.”
So far it’s been a predictable week for a team that expected much from the early season and still has the meat of the schedule in front of it.
The Tigers have checked off most of the boxes on the to-do list for a struggling team.
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They had the requisite “players-only” team meeting immediately following the 24-21 loss to Troy, team leaders have met with Orgeron, who also had a somewhat unusual meeting with both coordinators that was also attended by Athletic Director Joe Alleva.
They have also dumped whatever semblance of a two-quarterback system that was in place in favor of senior Danny Etling full-time over freshman Myles Brennan.
Meetings, meetings and more meetings, with team leaders trying to get a handle on team seemingly still searching for an identity.
Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t” Orgeron said of the week’s soul-searching.
But he knows he expects LSU to play much better.
“We’re going to battle,” he said. “You put our backs against the wall, we just know how to battle. That’s all we’re going to do.
“Anytime you play Florida, whether home or away, guys are going to get revved up. It’s a heated rival.”
There are several other subplots at work for the game.
It goes beyond football, although the Gators have been a thorn for purple and gold ever since the Tigers’ Derrius Guice went the wrong way on a fourth-down gamble at the goal line last year that helped Florida escape from Tiger Stadium with a 16-10 victory.
The Gators added to LSU’s basketball misery last winter with a 33-point victory. The Florida softball team eliminated LSU from the Women’s College World Series.
And the Gators then capped it off by taking two consecutive games from LSU in Omaha, Nebraska, in the College World Series finals to win the national championship in baseball at the Tigers’ expense.
Shortly afterward, Florida announced that this year’s football game would feature LSU as the Gators’ guests for homecoming.
“They know what’s at stake,” Orgeron said of his team. “I think these guys are going to play very, very hard.”
In this Nov. 19, 2016, file photo, LSU interim head coach Ed Orgeron, left, and Florida head coach Jim McElwain greet each other after an NCAA college football game in Baton Rouge, La. Florida won 16-10 after the Gators stopped LSU at the goal line on the final play of the game. Hurricane Matthew’s football fallout concludes Saturday, when reeling LSU plays at 21st-ranked Florida in a game that was switched from Baton Rouge to Gainesville.
