Image Credit: Michael Nash
The Florida Gators followed the program’s most dominant win under head coach Billy Napier with its most embarrassing. That’s how the 2025 season has started for a team with aspirations of proving it would be a contender in the SEC sooner than later. Instead, with one-sixth of the campaign in the books, Florida has spent the last seven days as a national punchline.
Compounding the Gators’ mounting problems is the nation’s most difficult schedule awaiting over the next 12 weeks. Florida begins a stretch of three straight games against top 10 opponents Saturday when it visits the No. 3 LSU Tigers for yet another night game in Death Valley.
All eyes will be on Gators sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway, who has proven through two weeks that he was not actually ready to step on the field after an offseason spent rehabilitating a variety of injuries. While Lagway has completed 74.5% of his passes, he’s averaging just 6.7 yards per attempt and 9.0 yards per reception with four touchdowns and an interception against LIU and South Florida.
Lagway has shown inconsistent footwork in the pocket, a lack of rapport with his wide receivers and a tendency to force the ball through his first six quarters of work. Now, he enters the first road start of his young career in arguably the toughest road environment the sport offers outside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
Napier this week said Lagway needed to take substantial steps forward in communication, anticipation and operation. This as the offense in totality needs to improve its play-to-play consistency with Napier claiming it has worked “much better” from a procedural standpoint.
“There’s no replacement for those repetitions [in practice],” the coach said. … [DJ’s] consumed with improvement.”
Florida’s defense was not as stout against USF as expected, but it looks to be getting a significant piece back with redshirt sophomore Caleb Banks not listed with any designation on the injury report. Banks will potentially see his first action of the season after sophomore EDGE LJ McCray was ruled out indefinitely with a foot injury.
“He’s a force. One of the best defensive linemen in the country,” Napier said of Banks. “… He’s been able to practice this week. It’s been a good week. … I feel good about him.”
In order to control the clock and keep LSU’s explosive offensive on the sideline, UF will likely look to a heavy dose of its at-times strong running game. The Gators inexplicably went away from sophomore running back Jadan Baugh after their opening drive against the Bulls with Napier not exactly explaining why this week. Instead, he stressed that Baugh is a piece of a larger puzzle.
“This is a team game. Individual performances are easy to see at times, and then sometimes, there’s other players who contribute. That’s the beautiful thing about our game: It’s not about the individual. It takes a team effort for the individual to be successful,” he said.
What will go down Saturday in Death Valley? Let’s take a look.
| Florida Gators | No. 3 LSU Tigers | |
| Head coach | Billy Napier | Brian Kelly |
| Record | 1-1 | 2-0 |
| Conference | SEC | SEC |
Florida released its first official injury report with SEC play beginning. It did not list any players as probable, questionable or doubtful.
Out: RB Treyaun Webb, WR Dallas Wilson, EDGE LJ McCray, DB Micheal Caraway Jr., TE Scott Isacks, OL Fletcher Westphal, DL Michai Boireau
Previously injured players not listed: LB Grayson Howard, DB Ben Hanks III, WR Kahleil Jackson
Date: Saturday, Sept. 13 | Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Location: Tiger Stadium — Baton Rouge, Louisiana [102,321]
TV: ABC (Sean McDonough, Greg McElroy, Molly McGrath)
Stream: ESPN app
SiriusXM: 82 | Radio: WRUF, TuneIn
Live updates: @OnlyGators on Twitter
» Florida and LSU are tied 34-34-3 in the all-time series with the Gators snapping a five-game losing streak in 2024. UF has won 21 of the last 37 meetings since 1988, while LSU leads 19-17 in Baton Rouge. An unranked Florida team has only defeated a ranked LSU team in Death Valley once (2003).
» UF was ranked in the Preseason AP Top 25 for the first time since 2021 but got bounced out of the college football rankings after just two weeks.
» The Gators have not defeated a top three team in the AP Top 25 on the road since 1996 (anywhere since 2015), and they have not done so when entering as an unranked team since 1963.
» An unranked UF team has not defeated a ranked opponent on the road since 2018.
» Florida’s 13 returning starters are 10th most in the FBS and second most in the SEC.
» The Gators’ five-game winning streak, tied for the longest active streak in the nation, was snapped last week. It was the program’s longest winning streak since 2020 (six), and the close to 2024 marked the first time UF won the final four games of a season since 2019.
» Florida entered the 2025 season with the toughest schedule in the nation for the second straight year. UF’s 2024 slate was the most difficult in college football history at the start of the campaign.
» The Gators defense had forced turnovers in 13 of 14 games — including an active streak of 11 games — with multiple takeaways in 12 of those contests until it failed to register a takeaway last week.
» Florida has allowed 18 points or fewer in six straight games, outscoring opponents by an average of 19.3 points in that span.
» UF is the only FBS team that did not commit a penalty in Week 1. It turned around and committed 11 in Week 2.
» Florida is 16-6 at home, 4-9 on the road and 1-4 in neutral-site games under Napier (5-13 away from home). Dating back to the prior regime, UF is on a 5-19 drought away from The Swamp with a 4-14 mark in its last 17 true road games.
» The Gators under Napier are 14-1 when allowing 20 points or fewer (losing last week), 17-2 when leading after the third quarter, 16-6 when leading at halftime, 17-7 when scoring first and 16-5 when rushing for at least 150 yards. However, UF is 3-14 under Napier when opponents score first, 1-13 when scoring less than 21 points, 5-19 when allowing 21+ points, 4-14 when tied or trailing at halftime, 3-18 when tied or trailing after the third quarter and 4-13 when being outrushed.
» Florida is 4-14 against AP Top 25 teams under Napier, 3-9 over the last two seasons (2-5 in 2024). That drought extends to 10-22 against ranked opponents (2-9 vs. top five teams, 6-12 vs. top 10 teams) since 2018. In that same span, UF is 42-14 against unranked opponents.
» The Gators have scored in 463 consecutive games, an NCAA record.
Spread: Florida +6.5 | O/U: 47.5
This line has come down one point from open, and frankly, it settling around a touchdown is rather shocking considering Florida’s play to open the season. Perhaps oddsmakers saw LSU’s 23-7 win last week over Louisiana Tech as weak, and the 17-10 opening win over then-No. 4 Clemson has become less impressive given the way those Tigers have played across their first three games. Still, this is giving a lot of credit to the Gators for simply having a bad week against the Bulls, suggesting those problems will not revisit themselves on the road in a more difficult environment against a more talented team.
Tough to buy into that mindset. The spread and total suggest a projected score of 26-21 or 27-20 for the hosts. With Florida’s inability to finish drives and Lagway’s inconsistent play to date, expecting three touchdowns or five scoring drives is a lot. It also remains to be seen how the defense will play against much tougher opposition. For those reasons, the leans are with the hosts and the over.
2025 record: 1-1 ATS, 2-0 O/U
» Uniforms: Florida will wear its traditional home look of blue jerseys, white pants and orange helmets for a road game as LSU prefers to wear white.
