This week, LSU beat writer Jace LeJeune ranks his top five moments of the 2022 season. He will post a moment each day this week from number five all the way to the number one moment of the season, which will be on Friday.
Today, we take a look back at the number four moment of the 2022 season, which was the moment that the LSU offense finally started to show what it was fully capable of on the road against the Florida Gators early in the season.
Despite winning four of its first six games to start the season, the LSU passing game struggled. After the 21-17 Auburn win in which the Tigers only threw for 85 total yards and having a blowout home loss to Tennessee, there were a lot of questions about if the passing game would ever get going. It finally did on the road in the SEC against the cross division rival Florida Gators.
It was the breakout performance of Arizona State transfer quarterback Jayden Daniels, who showed why he won the Tigers’ quarterback job. He had 349 yards and three touchdowns passing while also adding 44 yards and three touchdowns rushing. Daniels’ explosive six touchdown performance made him the second LSU signal caller to account for six touchdowns in a game joining Joe Burrow.
The lightbulb also came on for LSU’s talented receiving core that was also searching for its breakout game after Jayden Daniels called for a players only meeting with the receivers. Kayshon Boutte had his best game of the season to this point after a shaky start and had over 115 yards receiving. John Emery Jr., Brian Thomas Jr., and Jaray Jenkins also caught touchdowns from Daniels.
It was not just the passing game, but the rushing game also did a great job of complimenting the passing game. To go with Jayden Daniels’ three rushing touchdowns, former walk-on Josh Williams had a career game by rushing for 106 yards and two touchdowns.
Overall, the offense had 535 total yards of offense and scored touchdowns on its first six possessions.
It was not a perfect game defensively for the Tigers as Florida was in a tie game with LSU at 21-21 and scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to pull within seven at 42-35, but LSU kicker Damian Ramos made a 47 yard field goal to put the game out of reach for the Gators making it 45-35 with less than two minutes left to play in a game.
It was a big win for first year head coach Brian Kelly, who got the victory over another first year SEC head coach in Florida’s Billy Napier.
The 45-35 win not only improved LSU’s record to 5-2, but it gave the Tigers the much needed boost to go on their eventual SEC West Division Championship run.
In hindsight, the LSU/Florida game was the most underrated moment of the season considering the struggles offensively prior and thus set the tone for the rest of a successful season.
That is why this game was the number four moment of the LSU Tigers’ 2022 season.
Come back tomorrow as Jace reveals the number three moment of the 2022 LSU season.
For the rest of the list, click below!
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