Florida football: Ranking Florida’s 2022 Opponents

Florida football opponent rankings: LSU Tigers (10/15)

Metric Score: 10

Though a win over Georgia would do more favors for Florida to win the SEC East this season, there is a greater layer of satisfaction that would come from beating LSU in 2022.

Rewind the clock back approximately 21 months ago. The Gators are ranked no. 6 in the country with an 8-1 record and a guaranteed date with the Alabama Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship game.

The Gators are about to make up their previously postponed contest against LSU at home, as 23-point favorites. A dominating performance would have given Florida quarterback Kyle Trask much greater Heisman odds, and possibly open the door for Florida to qualify for the College Football playoffs without winning the SEC Championship.

Since Florida’s embarrassing 37-34 defeat to the Tigers that foggy evening, Florida’s overall record has been a staggering 6-10, with an 0-4 record against ranked opponents.

This also includes a 49-42 defeat at the hands of LSU that was at the time 12.5-point underdogs at home, sitting at 3-3 overall with an impending mutual agreement for head coach Ed Orgeron to resign at the end of the season.

Late in November LSU announced that it was hiring Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly to become their program’s newest head coach. This was despite the fact that Billy Napier was still available on the open market, competing for a conference championship less than 60 miles outside of Baton Rouge.

Throw in the report that the Gators were aware of Kelly’s availability, but willingly declined to pursue him in favor of Napier, and this annual conference rivalry has become more intense than any of its previous chapters.

As it stands the Gators currently hold the edge in this 85-year-old rivalry by one win (33-32-3). However, the Tigers are currently on a three-game winning streak and have managed to win nine of the last 12 matchups.

Though the Tigers have held the edge in this rivalry for the past decade, each contest has been a tough battle for both teams. Since 2012, the average margin of victory in this rivalry has been six points, with seven of the ten games being decided by one score.

Despite LSU’s offense hanging 49 points on the Gators last season, the Tigers offense ranked only 81st in the nation in yards per game (373.8) and 76th in points per game (25.9). However, there will be a few new faces on the offensive side of the ball in this year’s matchup.

Junior quarterback Jayden Daniels, who is currently the projected starter for LSU in week 1, will get his first taste of SEC competition after transferring from Arizona State. In his previous three seasons, Daniels has thrown for 6,025 yards and 32 touchdowns, while also rushing for 1,288 yards and 13 touchdowns in 29 games.

After losing Tyrion Davis-Price to this year’s NFL Draft, the Tigers will turn to Noah Cain at running back in 2022. Prior to transferring to Baton Rouge, the junior redshirt running back previously played at Penn State for three seasons with 806 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns to his resume.

LSU also returns its top four leading receivers from 2021, led by junior Keyshon Boutte. Boutte was recently named first team All SEC this preseason after catching 38 passes for 509 yards and nine touchdowns last year.

There is a realistic possibility that both the Gators and Tigers will be undefeated entering their week 7 matchup.

The Gators of course will have to circumnavigate two ranked opponents in the first two weeks, along with a challenging road trip to Knoxville in week 4. The Tigers, however, play five of their first six games of the season in Louisiana. They also play no preseason ranked opponents in their first six games and the only matchup they are listed as the underdogs for currently is against Auburn in week 5.

But if the Gators and Tigers manage to be undefeated or 5-1 entering week 7, then there will no doubt be major conference implications on the line too.

The Gators could and should have beaten the Tigers the past two seasons, but failed to do so.

The Tigers could have easily hired Billy Napier as their head coach last November, but did not believe he was good enough for the job and passed on him.

This year’s LSU game is more than just another chapter in this cross divisional rivalry. For the Gators, it’s about changing the narrative in this rivalry while both schools are perceived as trying to rebuild their respective program’s.

For Billy Napier, this game is a way to prove that the Tigers made a grave mistake by letting the young up and coming head coach leave their state to go coach for their rival.

If there is only one date that this new coaching staff has circled on its calendar this year, it’s likely Oct. 15.