Hoping to stay alive in the SEC championship race, No. 20 Florida will make the always daunting road trip to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as it takes on a reeling LSU team on Saturday that has lost two straight and is treading water in its quest to remain relevant in the SEC West. The Gators pitched a shutout against Vanderbilt last time out, which has, at the very least, got the sour taste out of their mouth from the loss to Kentucky two weeks ago. Speaking of Kentucky, the Tigers got smoked in Lexington, Kentucky, in a game that has made the natives restless.
This rivalry might not hold the same weight as it has in year's past, but don't let that fool you. These teams don't like each other and the winner will have some momentum heading toward the latter part of the season.
Let's break down the game and make picks straight up and against the spread.
Florida vs. LSU: Need to know
Boutte out for the season: LSU's season has been a let down, and it got worse this week when news came down that star wide receiver Kayshon Boutte is out for the season after suffering a leg injury last weekend. That will put a ton of pressure on quarterback Max Johnson, who will have to make things work with an extremely young receiving corps. The next three leading receivers on the Tigers are freshmen, and they have had an incredibly difficult time running the football all season. The offense was one-dimensional by necessity when Boutte was healthy. Now, that one dimension has been removed. Good luck.
The evolution of Emory Jones: The first-year starting quarterback of the Gators has had a roller coaster of a season, but four passing touchdowns and 12.4 yards per attempt against Vanderbilt should give fans hope that the redshirt junior is starting to figure out how to be a threat in the downfield passing attack. Granted, Vanderbilt is a disaster and lighting up that defense won't exactly win him the Heisman Trophy. But he struggled against lesser opponents earlier this season, so the fact that he didn't play down to the competition is a good sign. He'll be going up against a Tigers defense that is giving up 230.8 yards per game (11th in the SEC), has given up 13 passing touchdowns -- next-to-last in the conference -- and is down Derek Stingley Jr. and Eli Ricks.
Ed Orgeron's last chance: The Tigers are two years removed from a national championship, and Orgeron is looking more like Gene Chizik circa 2012 than Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney. That's not to say that he should reach their level, but a .500 record in 2020, a season on the brink of disaster in 2021 and off-the-field issues have put him squarely on the hot seat -- perhaps the hottest seat in college football. He has games against five ranked opponents left on the docket, and a loss to Florida in front of the home crowd would make it almost impossible for this team to finish anywhere close to .500 in the conference.
How to watch Florida vs. LSU live
Date: Saturday, Oct. 16 | Time: Noon ET
Location: Tiger Stadium -- Baton Rouge, Louisiana
TV: ESPN | Live stream: fuboTV (Try for free)
Florida vs. LSU prediction, picks
This is a broken LSU team, and the Gators will shatter the glass into tiny little pieces on Saturday afternoon. The Gators defense will have no problem at all against an LSU team that has been less-than-stellar on offense all season. Jones won't have a huge game through the air, but he won't have to in order to cover this spread. Prediction: Florida (-10.5)
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