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LSU football falls to Florida for third straight loss

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LSU football falls to Florida for third straight loss

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Some of the usual ingredients to a sure-fire victory, LSU football had in the pot.

Out-possess your opponent? Check. Win the total yardage battle? Check. Convert more than half of your third downs? Yep.

But Brian Kelly and LSU, who came into Saturday’s game still alive in the SEC Championship Game race despite two straight losses, lost the battles that matters most. The execution on offense was abysmal all game while the defense ran out of gas in the second half, as quarterback D.J. Lagway and Florida pitched the upset 27-16 inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

The Tigers (6-4, 3-3 SEC) dropped their third straight game, a first for LSU since Kelly has taken over the program.

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LSU football leans on defense in tug of war with Florida but unit runs out of gas

The longest drive LSU’s defense gave up to Florida’s offense was nine plays, a series that took 4:12 off the clock in the second half. And at the end of it, all the Gators could muster was a 49-yard field goal.

Gators quarterback D.J. Lagway played decently — going 13 for 66 for 226 yards — as Florida averaged 8.3 yards per play. For much of the contest, the Tigers played contain on him and his weapons, preventing a large number of big plays or consistency when they had the ball.

LSU run game shows up against the Gators

LSU coaches will be encouraged by what they saw out of the run game with Caden Durham, Josh Williams and company.

The past few games, the Tigers have not been able to establish anything on the ground and it’s led to back-to-back losses as too much was put on the shoulders of Nussmeier.

Nussmeier wasn’t asked to do quite as much at Florida on Saturday as freshman Caden Durham and Josh Williams were able to find success and be effective running the ball. Durham finished with 91 yards on 20 carries while Williams added 69 yards rushing on 13 rushes.

In total, LSU finished with 125 yards rushing, the most it’s had since the win at Arkansas.

LSU has to rely on younger offensive linemen at Florida

Early in the second quarter, senior right guard Miles Frazier exited the game with an ankle injury, forcing Tyree Adams, a freshman that was only going to be used in emergency situations according to Kelly earlier this week, to come into the game.

Florida was able to bottle things up in the middle with sophomore Paul Mubenga getting just his second career start along with the freshmen Adams and D.J. Chester, who had started all season at center. Most of the balance LSU was able to create in the first half came with Frazier in the game and when he left, the run lanes got swallowed up more often.

Frazier reentered the game on the last offensive drive of the first half and the Tigers were able to drive the length of the field but could only manage a field goal.

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Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.

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