BATON ROUGE — The College Football Playoff national championship trophy for the 2019-20 season was at two Walmarts in town on Friday and will be in Tiger Stadium tonight.
It has been and will be traveling to various nationally significant games throughout the season, so LSU has not won anything yet. The trophy was in Columbus, Ohio, last week for No. 5 Ohio State's 34-10 win over No. 23 Michigan State.
How To Watch: Florida at LSU
But the winner of No. 6 LSU (5-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) and No. 7 Florida (6-0, 3-0 SEC) tonight at 7 on ESPN could well stand a chance to keep that trophy at home — not in a Walmart — comeJan. 13, 2020, when the national championship game is played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.
The two semifinal playoff games will be on Dec. 28 in Atlanta and in Glendale, Arizona, where LSU just beat Central Florida in the Fiesta Bowl.
Prediction: What will the final score between LSU and Florida be?
Out of seven top 11 pairings between LSU and Florida from 2006-15, the winner reached the national championship game four times — Florida in 2006 and ’08 and LSU in 2007 and ’11.
Updated Injury Report: Tigers are much healthier
LSU, which won national championships in the 2003 and 2007 seasons and reached the title game in the 2011 season,has never made the College Football Playoff, which began in the 2014-15 season. The Tigers will know if they have a chance by the date of the first CFP poll on Tuesday, Nov. 5, which is four days before LSU plays at No. 1 Alabama (5-0, 2-0 SEC).
Florida, which won national championships in 2006 and 2008, has also never made the playoff. One or the other will be on its way after Saturday night.
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"We were the biggest game in the country last week," said Florida coach Dan Mullen, whose then-No. 8 Gators beat then-No. 7 Auburn, 24-13, last Saturday in Gainesville, Florida. "And we're the biggest game in the country this week. That's what makes you want to play at Florida and be a Gator — to play the biggest games in the country."
ESPN's College GameDay, a Saturday morning pregame show that airs from 8 to 11, was in town for that one and is here for this one, from the Quadrangle on the LSU campus.
LSU, meanwhile, will be playing its second game with the trophy in town and near theGameDay set. The trophy and the pregame show were in Austin, Texas, on Sept. 7, when the No. 6 Tigers beat No. 10 Texas, 45-38.
"ESPN GameDay. 7 o'clock Saturday night. Tiger Stadium. LSU-Florida. It doesn't get much better than that," LSU coach Ed Orgeron said.
The first real taste of fall in Baton Rouge arrived today with temperatures in the low 70s or high 60s expected at kickoff and descending to the high 50s.
"It's going to be a wonderful night," Orgeron said.
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Neither coach wanted to discuss playoff implications, as each have other such games very soon. The Tigers will host No. 12 Auburn (5-1, 2-1 SEC) in two weeks after playing at Mississippi State (3-2, 1-1 SEC) next Saturday at a time and network to be determined by the outcome of LSU-Florida. Then, after an open week, it's Alabama, which has won eight in a row over LSU.
Florida is at South Carolina (2-3, 1-2 SEC) next week before an open week. Then it plays No. 3 Georgia (5-0, 2-0 SEC) in Jacksonville, Florida, on Nov. 2. The Gators have lost the last two to the Bulldogs.
"Right now, this is the game of the year," LSU outside linebacker K'Lavon Chaisson said. "Obviously, two great teams with a lot on the line. I'm ready to play."
The potential classicmatches the No. 1 scoring offense in the nation in LSU with 54.6 points a game against the nation's No. 5 scoring defense in Florida with 9.5 points allowed a game. The gamealso pits the No. 1 offense in the SEC in LSU with 571 yards a game (also No. 2 in the nation)against the No. 2 defense in the SEC in Florida with 276.3 yards allowed a game.
"I'm very pleased with the production of our offense so far, but now we're going to face some stiffer defenses," Orgeron said. "Let's see what happens."
LSU quarterback Joe Burrow is No. 2 in the nation and No. 1 in the SEC in passing yards with 372.8 a game, and he is No. 3 in the nation in efficiency at 216.2 on 127-of-162 passing for 1,864 yards and 22 touchdowns with three interceptions. Florida is No. 2 in the SEC and No. 19 in the nation against the pass with 183.3 yards allowed a game.
The Tigers are tied for the lead the nation in red zone offense efficiency at 100 percent with 31 scores in 31 drives, including 26 touchdowns, after reaching the 20-yard line of an opponent or closer. But guess what? Florida is No. 1 in the SEC in red zone efficiency defense with just 35 percent scoring allowed — only three touchdowns and two field goals through 14 drives by opponents.
The Gators are also No. 9 in the nation in pass efficiency defense as it has picked off 12 passes. Burrow threw a career-high two interceptions in a 27-19 loss last season at Florida while being sacked five times. The Gators are tops in the SEC and fifth nationally in sacks with 26 now,while LSU is No. 51 nationally in giving up sacks with nine.
"We're really about to get tested," LSU center Lloyd Cushenberry said. "So, we're going to see what kind of offense we have. We believe we have a great one, and we'll see this week."
Florida's offense is only ninth in the SEC and 54th nationally with 427.8 yards a game. And its quarterback, Kyle Traskis a lowly 91st in the nation in passing with 180 yards a game. He alsomay be gimpy with a brace on his left knee after straining his medial collateral ligament last week. Trask also leads the nation with four fumbles lost, and the Gators are 10th in the SEC in sacks allowed with 12.
Trask returned to the Auburn game last week after getting injured, but his injury has likely led to LSU being a 14-point favorite.
"The quarterback's not as mobile, and he's not 100 percent healthy," said Chaisson, who has one sack in three games."So, I see them getting the ball out quick and doing a lot of max protect to help their situation out. We've got to take advantage of things like that."
LSU has only half of Florida's sacks with 13 for No. 37 in the nation.
"We know we've got to get the pass rush going," Chaisson said.
This will be the first top 10 pairing of LSU and Florida since 2015 when the No. 6 Tigers(5-0, 3-0 SEC) beat No. 8 Florida (6-0, 4-0), 35-28, in Tiger Stadium.A week later, LSU rose to No. 2 in the nation, but it lost at No. 4 Alabama and lost two after that.
"This is just the first game of a lot of big games," Cushenberry said.
"We're going to throw the first punch," Chaisson said. "And we're going to keep going throughout the whole game. And we're going to throw the last punch."
