In this week’s Swampcast, the Sun’s Kevin Brockway and Andrew Abadie break down Florida football’s loss to USF and look ahead to its SEC opener at No. 4 LSU in Tiger Stadium.
Brockway said the Florida Gators (1-1), who have yet to start 2-0 in four seasons under Napier, are going to need fix their issues quickly coming off a disappointing 18-16 loss to the Bulls.
“Florida had the opportunities to put the game away in the red zone in the first half and they did not,” Brockway said. “They moved the ball effectively from the 20 to the 20 throughout the game but they just couldn’t finish on those drives and a lot of that was self-inflicted mistakes, certainly penalties, two penalties on the same drive that wiped out touchdowns … and those are things that you hoped in year four under Napier that would get cleaned up.”
Abadie wonders if it may be a case of USF being that good after posting back-to-back wins over Boise State at UF.
“What is USF beats Miami this week,” Abadie said. “How does this loss look? I mean that’s three straight Top 25 wins, they basically own the state of Florida at that point. Maybe we’re not giving them credit.”
Later, Brockway and Abadie were joined by LSU beat writer Cory Diaz of the Gannett Louisiana Network, who said defensive additions in the transfer portal, including North Carolina State safety Tamarcus Cooley (nine tackles), Virginia Tech cornerback Mansoor Delane (three pass breakups, one interception), USF defensive tackle Bernard Gooden (three tackles, half a tackle for loss) and former UF edge rusher Jack Pyburn (six tackles, half a sack) have helped fuel LSU’s 2-0 start. The Tigers have allowed an average of 8.5 points per game in wins over Clemson and Louisiana Tech.
“I do think what they’ve been able to do defensively will translate over into SEC play,” Diaz said. “I don’t think there’s any question and the reason I say that is that all the transfers that joined LSU during the offseason are guys that have multiple years starting at other Power Four schools.”
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Swampcast talks Florida football coming off USF loss, SEC opener on road at No. 4 LSU
Reporting by Kevin Brockway, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
