The Wednesday before LSU's showdown with Florida, Tigers offensive coordinator Jake Peetz approached running back Ty Davis-Price with a message.
The offense was going to lean on the junior running back in the difficult matchup at Tiger Stadium. And that was just fine with LSU's latest hyphenated backfield leader.
"I told him it was no problem," Davis-Price said. "I told him to feed me. I told him, and he did."
The junior carried the ball 36 times in total, well over his previous career-high in carries of 24 set last season in a win over South Carolina. And what he did with those carries was the historic part. Davis-Price rolled up a program-record 287 yards, besting the marks of Leonard Fournette and Derrius Guice that had previously served as the high-water mark.
Davis-Price rumbled in for touchdowns from 18, 25 and 40 yards out, and salted the game away with tough runs for first downs to secure the 49-42 victory without his team's defense ever having to return to the field after a clutch interception by linebacker Damone Clark. He stood near midfield and raised him arms toward the Tiger Stadium crowd, but he only had one thing on his mind.
"To win the game, that’s all that’s on my mind at the time. I didn’t know how many yards I had until after the game," Davis-Price said. "I was just amazed at how good the O-line did. You can see those were big holes I ran through, so shout out to them.”
To say the performance was eye-opening would be an understatement, even following a 147-yard performance a week earlier in a blowout loss to Kentucky. This Tigers squad was facing as much adversity as ever, with more and more injuries piling up, questions about leadership and player effort, and back-to-back conference losses. But just like a year ago, LSU found a way to right the ship despite entering as double-digit underdogs against Florida.
Central to the early-season struggles had been an inability to get anything going on the ground, with John Emery Jr. academically ineligible. Freshmen Corey Kiner, Armoni Goodwin and sophomore Josh Williams got their shot at backfield touches. Davis-Price scuffled to just 140 yards over LSU's first five games, with a struggling offensive line and play-calling that abandoned the run quickly despite coach Ed Orgeron's repeated calls for a "commitment" to that part of the offense.
"It’s a big weapon," Orgeron said. "They’re going to overload on the run and then we can feel that, and Max is going to have some wide receivers open because we’ve got some guys that can beat some one-on-one. But I’ve got to give coach [Jake Peetz] credit. He committed to the run. He put in some new stuff, that was his stuff that he put in, and he did a very good job.”
One new wrinkle was a jumbo package that included Garrett Dellinger as an eligible receiver for heavy run looks. Sophomore Marlon Martinez also filled in well for Chasen Hines, who was injured during pregame. He was the pulling guard on the counter run play LSU gashed Florida with on multiple occasions.
“I guess Marlon saw it all week and was the next-man up," Orgeron said. "But give [OL coach Brad Davis] credit, he got his guys to play. Again, I see tremendous improvement.”
The last two weeks has seen Davis-Price handle 58 of the 68 total backfield touches, and he's responded with 434 yards and five touchdowns with his 3-month-old daughter's name, Brook, scrawled on his eye black.
Davis-Price was quick to hand the praise to his blockers after the record-setting game, a group that Orgeron called the "most improved" of any on the team. He also credited Jack Marucci, the teams Director of Performance Innovation, for helping coordinate some of the blocking schemes worked in this week. Ty was so thrilled, he even promised he’d so something “special” for his lineman, though he didn’t indicate what it might be.
“Coach Peetz and the staff the last few weeks they challenged us to go in and create a running game," Davis-Price said. "The O-line, man they’ve been coming with it every day at practice, busting their tails and doing extra work. I can’t be more proud of them.”
