The nation's most highly touted freshman running back picked a night when his offense needed him most to play his best football of the season.
LSU's Leonard Fournette ran for a game-high 140 yards on 27 carries with two touchdowns, leading the Tigers to a 30-27 road win at Florida. LSU won on a 50-yard field goal with three seconds left to play.
Fournette scored on a 12-yard run in the first quarter, later dove over the goal line for a 2-yard score, and also helped set up a Keny Hilliard touchdown with a 20-yard run in the first half. It was just the sort of consistency LSU had to have in the ground game, particularly on the road, with quarterback Anthony Jennings largely ineffective (10 of 21, 110 yards).
But it wasn't Fournette who was the heartbreaker for Gators fans -- it was their own quarterback, Jeff Driskel.
With the score tied at 27, Florida took possession on its own 42 with 54 seconds remaining, needing only one big play or perhaps a couple of first downs to set up a game-winning field goal. Instead, Driskel could drive only to the LSU 45 before throwing an interception that Rickey Jefferson returned to the UF 36, giving LSU the game-winning field goal chance instead.
LSU coach Les Miles has waffled between quarterbacks Jennings and Brandon Harris this season.
The loss dropped Florida to 2-2 in SEC play, while LSU won its first SEC game of the year.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread*.
