Tampabay.com
OCTOBER 08, 2008

Gators, Tigers still troubled by recent losses to each other

The video of last year's loss to LSU has now expanded from the weight room to the hallways and other areas of the Florida football facility.

That final, fateful fourth-quarter drive in a 28-24 loss still haunts the Gators.

But it turns out, the Tigers are still bothered by, and looking for motivation from, Florida's 23-10 victory in 2006 at Florida Field.

"It certainly is not a pleasant memory,'' LSU coach Les Miles said Wednesday morning. "I didn't feel like we as a team played as well as we're capable. We made mistakes, we turned the ball over unecessarily. I really felt like we should have played a lot better football game there. And certainly that's the goal, to change that as we go to Florida this weekend.''

Meanwhile, the Gators continue to use last year's loss at motivation.

"What's tough is you look at that game and we led up until a minute before it ended,'' UF defensive coordinator Charlie Strong said. "It's just the third downs we allowed them to get. Every possession, we were
watching it just the other day, and it was third-and-1, third-and-2, and then they get the fourth-and-1 and fourth-and-2. We get them to third-and- 18 and guy scrambles for 17 yards. It's hard because all those fourth downs, they made them. The goal line stand, we bring (Ryan) Stamper off the edge and you think you have the guy stopped . . . But it's tough and it's good that our players saw that game. You can still show it to them (and say) 'Look guys this cannot happen again.' ''

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Florida Gators fans, welcome to the Gator Report for all your news about Gators football, basketball and all UF sports. It's written by University of Florida beat writer Antonya English and the staff of the Tampa Bay Times. We invite your comments and participation.

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