Florida lost for the 4th straight time to LSU Saturday night in a raucous, fired-up Swamp, falling 45-35 in the latest frenetic, fun game in a rivalry that has given the college football world plenty of memorable, frenetic fun.

The Gators didn’t lose because of an indifferent fan base, empty seats or a disappointing homefield advantage.

On a night the Gators’ fan base honored Gainesville’s favorite son, Tom Petty, who died 5 Octobers ago, The Swamp was a cauldron of heat and sound, a wall of noise where fans belted Petty tunes during TV timeouts and yelled until ears rang during the game. One blue-chip recruit and his family, making their 3rd stadium visit to a national championship-winning program (Clemson, Georgia) this autumn, told SDS plainly: “That was the loudest place I’ve ever been. … I couldn’t hear myself think. That’s crazy, man. Who wouldn’t want to play in that?” The Swamp, and a Florida fan base now championship-starved for well over a decade, is ready to win.

The Gators didn’t lose because of culture.

There were no shoe tosses, no suspended players, no shameful personal fouls and no self-inflicted wounds from disastrous, lack-of-discipline penalties. Don’t try to suggest Gervon Dexter Sr.’s personal foul call, which negated a 4th-quarter Florida interception, was such a penalty, either. It was, as head coach Billy Napier said after the game, “a bang-bang call,” but it’s hard to fault Dexter for playing football, and it’s even more difficult to explain that call in the context of others that were not made. Florida’s culture, put in place quickly thanks to the hard work of a staff that had to clean up a cultural mess left behind by an aloof Dan Mullen, is strong. It is preparing Florida to win again.

The Gators didn’t lose because of Anthony Richardson, the 1st-year starting quarterback who is improving every week. Richardson completed 15 of 25 passes for 185 yards and 1 touchdown and added a team-high 109 yards rushing and 1 touchdown, pacing a Gators offense that scored 35 points, a season high against FBS competition. Richardson opened the game with a rifle shot of a deep ball to Justin Shorter on just the 2nd play from scrimmage, sending a soldout crowd that arrived early and stayed to the bitter end into rapture.

Richardson’s touchdown run, an 81-yard juant that will be one for the season-in-review movie, showed just why the sophomore quarterback has the “it” factor that could lead the Gators to the type of 2nd-year jump we’ve seen from the likes of Tennessee this season with Hendon Hooker or LSU in 2019 with Joe Burrow.

Richardson also avoided the mistakes that have plaged him in past big games, as he didn’t commit a turnover and led the Florida offense to 6.7 yards per play, its 3rd-best output of the season (after Utah and Tennessee). If Richardson returns next year — and for the 1st time all year, there were on-the-record suggestions from staffers that spoke with SDS this weekend in Gainesville that he will — Florida’s offense will be just fine in Year 2 under Napier. The head coach, it should be noted, is calling good ball plays, too. His run game ranks in the top 5 in America in yards per rush, and without a single dynamic perimeter playmaker in the passing game, the Gators have enough balance to keep defenses honest. Florida is 1-3 in the SEC, but aside from Richardson’s miserable night against Kentucky, the Gators have posted 33 and 35 points in 2 of the 3 defeats. That’s enough offense to win most games in the SEC. Florida’s offense, while imperfect and at least 2 recruiting classes from being elite again, is ready to help the Gators win.

That leaves the Florida defense.

Credit LSU. Jayden Daniels was sensational Saturday night, and the Tigers executed at a high level. The offensive line was night-and-day better with Will Campbell back at left tackle, and for the 1st time this season, Kayshon Boutte looked like the All-American he was projected to be all summer. Brian Kelly’s team played hard. It was physical, and you’ll never convince me that LSU isn’t more ready than any program in the country for the environment it faces at night on the road in the SEC. It was a team win for LSU, and one that should be celebrated as a turning point in Year 1 under Kelly in Baton Rouge.

The Florida defense had plenty to do with the outcome, though.

Take the game’s 1st drive. With the Gators staked to a 7-0 lead by Richardson out of the gate and with The Swamp in a salivating frenzy, LSU converted a 3rd and 8 on the 3rd play of its opening drive and a 3rd and 6 3 plays later, and it gained 14 crucial yards on 3rd and 15 3 plays after that to help the Tigers weather the crowd and snuff out Florida’s early momentum. LSU tied the game at 7, and the stage for a shootout was set. One stop, on any of those 3rd-down plays, and perhaps the game plays out differently, with Florida leading an LSU team that had lost by 4 touchdowns at home just a week prior. But Florida’s defense couldn’t get that stop.

The Gators’ defense, playing bizarrely 10-15 yards off the line of scrimmage in the secondary all night, was miserable against the pass, surrendering 349 yards at a 10.9 yard-per-attempt rate. It wasn’t much better against the run, allowing LSU to tally 179 yards on 4.7 per carry, and failing to contain Daniels on multiple 3rd-down and red-zone scampers.

The Tigers annihilated Florida on 3rd down, converting 8 of their first 9 tries (8-of-12 on the night) on their way to scoring a touchdown on each of their first 6 possessions. When the Tigers did finally punt, they had a 2-touchdown lead. And when they needed to run clock late in a 1-score game, they grinded out 47 yards on 12 plays and kicked a field goal to salt away the win.

On the night, LSU was 10-of-14 on 3rd- and 4th-down conversions. Make 1 or 2 plays, on any key 3rd or 4th down in the game, and Florida probably finds a way to win at home. But Florida’s defense isn’t ready to win.

Florida’s program won’t be ready to win, either, at least not until the malaise that has set in on the program’s once-proud defense is remedied.

Since they started keeping the statistic in 1983, Florida has fielded a top-20 team defense more than any SEC program other than Alabama. When the Gators wake up Monday morning, they’ll rank in the 100s in total defense, yards allowed per play and scoring defense — a trifecta of terrible that has never happened to a Florida defense in its proud history. Not even Todd Grantham’s dire defenses of 2020 and 2021 were as disastrous as the unit the Gators are fielding in Year 1 under new defensive coordinator Patrick Toney.

Toney, 32, will likely get another season to fix the mess. Florida lacks SEC talent at safety outside of Rashad Torrence II, and Florida’s linebackers are, for the most part, inexperienced and ineffective. Florida hasn’t had a defensive end who excels at containing the edge since CeCe Jefferson left campus 4 seasons ago, and its tackles, while improved, aren’t consistently game-changers. There are personnel issues everywhere but corner, and Toney should have time to sort those issues out.

How much time?

That’s another question. A bottom-100 defense is never acceptable at Florida. It also will make the rebuild, already more daunting than the bulk of Florida fans want to admit, more demanding and difficult. Until Florida’s defense is a Florida defense again — fast, physical, swarming to the ball — Florida won’t be the Florida of Spurrier and Meyer again. It will be the Florida of the last decade, a program with its lowest 10-year winning percentage since the SEC fully integrated in 1972. It won’t win championships, and it will rarely win big games.

Napier, with an army of support staff, a sparkling new football facility and a vision born under Nick Saban’s and Dabo Swinney’s tutelage, will and should be given every chance to win at Florida. But to win and win big, tough decisions have to be made. If Toney’s defense struggles again in 2023, Napier will need to make the tough decision to try something else with his defensive coordinator.

Saturday night’s loss to LSU, about nothing beyond bad defense, made that abundantly clear.