LSU, Florida players get into multiple scuffles before kickoff, drawing pregame flags on both teams

Bad blood is in the DNA of Florida-LSU.

It surfaced on Saturday before the game between the SEC rivals even kicked off.

Players got into not one but two scuffles during pregame warmups at LSU’s Tiger Stadium. The second drew penalty flags before the game even started.

The first took place roughly 75 minutes before kickoff as players from both teams traded shoves on the sideline.

This drew players who weren’t initially involved to swarm to the fracas from their spots on the field. But the drama quickly dissipated as players returned to their proverbial corners.

But the drama wasn’t done. Players got into it once again, this time on the opposite side of the field near the corner of an end zone. Per one account from the press box, the second kerfuffle was the result of Florida players taking a lap around LSU’s home field.

This, again, didn’t amount to much. But it did draw penalty flags, according to reporters on the scene.

There was initial confusion over what the flags were for and if they would have an actual impact on the game, including reports that unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and then formal warnings were issued. Per NOLA.com’s Wilson Alexander, citing an LSU spokesman, neither was the case.

The flags were apparently simply an effort by officials to assert control before things got too far out of hand.

These teams have history

The scuffles immediately elicited memories of an infamous unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that helped derail Florida’s championship hopes in 2021. In that game, Florida’s Marco Wilson picked up the loose shoe of LSU’s Kole Taylor and chucked it down the field, drawing a flag.

The penalty turned a would-be fourth-and-6 and likely punt into an LSU first down in the game’s final minutes. LSU went on to score a go-ahead touchdown on the drive that stood as the difference in a 37-34 upset for a Tigers team that entered the game at 3-5.

The previously 8-1 and 6th-ranked Gators dropped to 8-2 in a significant blow to their eventually unrealized hopes of making the College Football Playoff.

The stakes are high again on Saturday as No. 3 LSU enters the game at 2-0, armed with championship hopes of its own. The 1-1 Gators would like to make a statement to get back into the conversation after a stunning loss to South Florida in Week 2 dropped them out of the top 25.

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