Hey Heisman voters, did you see the LSU-Florida game on Saturday night? Did you see Tigers quarterback Jayden Daniels do something that no other player has done in college football history?
Daniels became the first player in FBS history to throw for more than 350 yards and rush for over 200 yards. His final stat line…17 of 26 for 372 yards, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. He also rushed for 234 yards and two touchdowns as the Tigers defeated the Florida Gators 52-35.
Daniels accomplished this despite going through concussion protocol during the week. The pressure is also on Daniels to put up video game like numbers, because if he doesn’t, LSU will lose.
The Tigers defense gave up 488 yards of offense as it continues to struggle. But it got enough stops and Daniels helped the offense produce 701 yards, a school record high for Florida.
The knock against Daniels is that LSU has three losses. But Daniels played well in those three games.
The Florida State loss Daniels had 410 yards of offense and one passing touchdown. In the Ole Miss defeat, Daniels had 513 yards of total offense and five touchdowns. In the loss to Alabama, Daniels had 382 yards and three touchdowns and only played three quarters.
Heisman favorite, Washington quarterback Michael Penix, is not a running quarterback. He’s thrown for 3,533 yards and 28 touchdowns, while Daniels has thrown for 3,164 yards and 30 touchdowns, plus he’s rushed for 918 yards and eight touchdowns.
Oregon quarterback Bo Nix is another Heisman candidate. He has only rushed for 121 yards and has thrown for 3,135 yards, 29 touchdowns and two interceptions.
The winner of the Heisman trophy could come down to the PAC-12 championship game when Oregon and Washington meet. But Tigers Coach Brian Kelly believes Daniels should win.
“If he didn’t win it tonight, he’s gotta be the leading candidate, unless the Heisman is just about popularity, if you want to be the most popular than fine, but he’s the best player in college football, he did something tonight that no one has ever done, so if that doesn’t make you the leading candidate, than maybe the Heisman is not for the best player, it’s for the most popular player,” said Kelly.
Meanwhile, Daniels continues to be modest about his accomplishments and gives praise to his teammates.
“I can’t do it on my own, some things I’m able to do on my own, the o-line has to block, the running backs gotta do what they gotta do and receivers got to make plays, I’m not just back there trying to get them the ball, let them do what they do, the offensive line is doing an incredible job up front just dominating the opponent,” said Daniels.
What is targeting?
For the second straight week, LSU was on the wrong end of a targeting call. Targeting was not called in Tuscaloosa when Alabama’s Dallas Turner clearly made helmet-to-helmet contact on Daniels. The hit knocked Daniels out of the game.
On Saturday against Florida, LSU senior safety Andre Sam lowered his head to tackle Gators running back Montrell Johnson. After a lengthy review, it was determined Sam was guilty of targeting.
Kelly was irate and let the officials know about it. He was still miffed in the postgame press conference.
“Last week, that guy that hit Jayden Daniles, was trying to knock him out. You can say whatever you want. But that’s what he was trying to do. Our guy was trying to make a tackle.
“We are in a bad place right now, we need to stop and figure this out, because there are a lot of words I can use but it’s tragic that we threw a kid out of the game because he was trying to play football,” said Kelly. ‘
LSU-Florida series
This was the 70th meeting between LSU and Florida and the last cross division permanent matchup as divisional play goes away next season. The two teams are not scheduled to play next season. LSU now leads the series history, 34-33-1.
This series was once dominated by the Gators. You remember when Florida beat LSU 58-3 in 1993. The Gators won nine in a row between 1988-1996. LSU had a magical win in 1997, but Florida won the next four over LSU.
I remember after the 2001 loss, Nick Saban was asked when he thought the script would be flipped and LSU would start beating the Gators. The Tigers beat Ron Zook and Florida in 2002 and since 2010 LSU has won 11 of 14.
