Rick Neuheisel has been involved with big college football games as a coach, and now he is an analyst breaking down the biggest games of each week. The biggest game arguably in Week 3 is between LSU and Florida, as the two teams look to open up SEC play with a big win.
The Gators are looking to bounce back after losing at home to South Florida, 18-16 on a last second field goal. While Neuheisel expects the Gators to come out and play highly motivated, he doesn’t see the team being able to slow down the Tigers offense.
“I expect the Gators to come out and play inspired football,” Neuheisel said. “I expect Billy Napier to get a much better and cleaner performance out of his team than it did last week against South Florida.
“They were out-gained by South Florida. I’m not sure that’s a fair match against an LSU defense that has maybe been the most improved side of the ball in all of college football from last year. This to me is going to be an LSU defensive performance and I think the offense starts to hit more big plays.”
The Gators were up 16-15 on the Bulls late in the game, but defensive lineman Brendan Bett picked up a huge personal foul penalty for spitting on a player on USF. The offense of the Gators really struggled in that game, as quarterback DJ Lagway threw for only 222 yards.
As Neuheisel mentioned, the LSU defense has become one of the best in the country after really struggling on that side of the ball the past few years. The expectations was the Tigers offense would be the reason why the team is a national title contender this year, but the defense has outperformed the offense to start the year.
However, with Garrett Nussmeier and a plethora of big-time receivers, it is only a matter of time before the Tigers offense gets rolling as well. As if there was any more fuel needed for a game this big, LSU will be looking to exact some revenge after losing to Florida last season.
Kickoff between the two teams is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
