Florida's reign as the nation's top-ranked team expired at Death Valley.
Cedric Donaldson returned an interception 31 yards for a touchdown and Herb Tyler scored on an 11-yard run during a 93-second span in the fourth quarter as No. 14 LSU shocked the Gators 28-21 Saturday night."The team's probably not quite near as good as everybody thought a No. 1 team should be," Florida coach Steve Spurrier said.
The Tigers (5-1, 3-1 SEC) beat Florida (5-1, 3-1) for the first time since 1987 and avenged last year's embarrassing 56-13 loss to the Gators.
"Our defense won tonight," Donaldson said. "If their defense was good, ours was better. If their offense was good, ours was better. We had a total team effort and that's what it takes."
LSU, criticized by coach Gerry DiNardo after last week's 7-6 win over Vanderbilt, responded with an inspired performance against Florida. The Tigers snapped the Gators' two long Southeastern Conference winning streaks - 25 games overall and 19 straight on the road.
"We were sick and tired of hearing that we had no chance to win this game," LSU running back Kevin Faulk said. "They scored 56 points on us last year and we only beat Vandy by one. We came out and won this game and nobody can say anything about that. Nobody can take that away."
Florida's loss should vault No. 2 Penn State back into the top spot. The Nittany Lions, who beat No. 7 Ohio State 31-27 Saturday, started the season No. 1 but fell to No. 2 on Sept. 21 after Florida beat then-No. 4 Tennessee.
When the game ended, fans in the capacity crowd of 80,677 stormed the field and tore down both goalposts to celebrate the Tigers' first victory over a top-ranked team. The were finally cleared from the field almost an hour after the game ended.
"It ain't ever been like this in the three years that I've been here," LSU coach Gerry DiNardo said. "It was exciting. The fans shared in the victory."
LSU snapped a 14-14 tie with the two quick scores early in the fourth quarter.
Donaldson picked off Doug Johnson's pass and returned it all the way to put the Tigers up 21-14 with 13:13 left before the second-largest crowd ever at Tiger Stadium, which is better known as Death Valley.
On the ensuing kickoff, Florida's Bo Carroll fumbled and Troy Twillie recovered for LSU - one of the five turnovers by the Gators. Four plays later, quarterback Tyler ran 11 yards untouched for the score to make it 28-14 with 11:40 remaining.
"We had some bad plays we don't usually have," Spurrier said. "Usually the other team has those."
Florida pulled to 28-21 on Fred Taylor's third touchdown of the game, a 3-yard run with 6:44 left.
But LSU clinched the victory when Raion Hill interecepted Johnson's third-down pass with 2:47 remaining after Florida was forced back to its 9-yard line following two penalties. The Tigers took over on their 46 and ran out the clock.
Johnson completed 32 of 57 passes for 346 yards, but was intercepted four times and sacked five times. Florida failed to throw a touchdown pass, snapping its NCAA-record streak of 62 straight regular-season games with at least one score through the air.
"You've got to keep hitting out there," said LSU defensive lineman Anthony McFarland. "When you've got them down, you've got to hit them some more."
LSU, held to 28 yards rushing by Florida last year, gained 158 yards on the ground Saturday night. Faulk rushed for 78 yards on 22 carries.
Tyler completed 10 of 17 passes for 172 yards.
Taylor, who had rushed for 100 yards in his five previous games, was held to 89 yards on 22 carries.
"A lot of our guys were cramping up. We're real thin on the line and they kept a lot of fresh guys in," Taylor said. "They were real physical up front and it showed."