Rapid Reaction to the Gators' 52-35 loss to LSU

BATON ROUGE, La. — Florida dropped its third game in a row — and fifth straight to LSU — in Saturday’s 52-35 loss. It was a historically bad performance for the Gators on defense and a record-setting one for Tigers senior quarterback Jayden Daniels.

Daniels accounted for 606 of their 701 total yards of offense, rushing for a career-high 234 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries, including an 85-yard score and a 51-yarder. He also threw for 372 yards and three TDs on 17 of 26 passing.

UF redshirt junior quarterback Graham Mertz had his third 300-yard passing performance of the season, throwing for 311 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore running back Trevor Etienne rushed for 99 yards and three touchdowns on 18 carries, but Florida’s defense couldn’t get enough stops against Daniels and the Tigers.

In the video above, Gators Online shares our rapid reaction from Death Valley to Florida’s loss to the LSU.

RELATED: Gators give up 701 yards in LSU loss, most allowed in UF history

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Billy Napier opening statement

“Alright, you know, we challenged the kids to be ready to compete, you know, physically ready to compete, mentally ready and then emotionally ready, and tough-minded, you know, ready to play through adversity, momentum, go punch-for-punch, knowing it was going to be that type of game. And I think we got that type of performance. Now, not a perfect day. Obviously LSU’s very accomplished on offense, they’ve got an elite group of players, and they were tough to stop, and I think we stopped them a handful of times but not enough. I think maybe it was a three-point game there with about 10 minutes to go, we took the lead one time there maybe in the 3rd, but I think the kids played hard. I mean, there’s no moral victories here, we all understand that, but I think what we asked them to do, they did. And I think they’re probably gonna, I think just the feel that I get from them is they feel like they had their chances.

“There definitely was opportunities out there tonight for us to come out on the other end, so I’m proud of that, OK. The mentality, the mindset, the resiliency, the resolve, the toughness, the togetherness. Their ability to sustain that intensity, you know, so there are some intangibles that I can respect from the players. I think we can help them, I think there’s opportunities for us to do some things strategically, maybe to put them in better position. I always feel that way, whether we win or lose, certainly I feel that way tonight. So, that’s a great venue, that’s a challenge to play here. We were ready, and I have respect for the approach the players took. We came up short, but I think we played until the last snap. And I think this group will do it again, that’s what I think. I think they’ll do it again, and this is a group that I think has got something about them.

“I’ve told you all that many times before, but I’m on the inside and I know every one of these kids and it’s a fun group to coach. They’re not perfect, I’m not perfect, and we’re going to continue to work. We have work to do, OK, and we’re up for the challenge, this group’s up for the challenge, and we’re going to continue trying to work hard and improve both as a staff and at the player level. And look, for us to go where we want to go here, as an organization, as a program, as a team, every single part of our organization is going to have to work their tail off. We have to be relentless in finding an edge, relentless in seeking improvement, right, and taking experience and learning and growing from that, knowing that there’s going to be other opportunities. So, hats off to LSU, you know, got a good football team, heck of a football game, and I know you got a bunch of questions so we’ll let you ask a few.”