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In his second start for the Gators this season, Austin Appleby threw for two touchdowns against South Carolina. He threw for 201 yards, his second most in a game this season. By the end of the game he’d also recorded 34 rushing yards, the most this season by a Florida quarterback.
Appleby, however, doesn’t have time to revel in his last game. His focus is already on the next game. where what the Gators have been working toward is on the line: the SEC East.
For Austin Appleby and the Gators, Saturday’s game against LSU could be the biggest one of the season.
The Race for the SEC East
Saturday afternoon’s game would probably not be as crucial if the race to be named the SEC East Champion wasn’t so close. All Florida has to do is win against LSU to clinch the SEC East title. The Gators will be set for a trip to Atlanta on December 3rd if they can manage a win.
If they don’t win, however, Florida will still have a chance at the SEC Championship. The Gators will just have to hope Tennessee loses to Vanderbilt or Missouri.
The Gators fell earlier this season to Tennessee when the Volunteers handed them their first loss of the season, 38-28.
LSU is currently 6-3 this season and are coming off of a 38-10 road win against Arkansas. The Razorbacks handed the Gators their second loss of the season two weeks ago, 31-10.
Austin Appleby isn’t letting the Tiger’s win against Arkansas crush the Gator’s hopes, though. The quarterback says that if he and his teammates start off strong like they did against South Carolina, they have a chance against the Tigers.
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Fresh Faces in Louisiana
With a lot of injuries on the field, many of the younger players have had to step up during their last and most crucial games of the season. Even more will have to do so now, after a few players suffered injuries against South Carolina.
Out for the rest of the season is safety Marcus Maye with a broken arm. Both Bryan Cox Jr. and David Sharpe were also injured in Saturday afternoon’s game.
While key players for the Gators this season are injured, Austin Appleby has no doubts that his younger teammates will perform just as well. A few of them already did so against South Carolina.
For their hard work, Appleby credits a lot about Saturday’s win on the younger guys on the team who had to step up and did that, and more.
Of course, it was a total team effort on Saturday that really helped Florida take down the Gamecocks. Injured players were on the sidelines, with words of encouragement for their teammates. Austin Appleby says that the positive environment from Saturday’s game is probably the most important thing the Gators need to take with them to Louisiana on Saturday.
It may seem like it’s the Gators against the world on Saturday in front of a sea of LSU fans. It may seem like the Gators are at a disadvantage with so many injuries.
For Austin Appleby, though, it seems like the Gators aren’t counting themselves out of the race for the SEC East.
