Did you see this coming?

• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Oct 12, 2008 - UPDATED: 7:30 a.m.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Talented team with lofty aspirations, desperate for a victory after a frustrating setback that nobody saw coming, at least not like this.

That was a suitable description of Florida before Saturday’s Southeastern Conference tussle with LSU at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

Now that same unwelcome and unsavory depiction will hover over the Tigers like a gloomy cloud for the next six days.

Jacked up by an electric crowd at The Swamp and with a variety of Gators proving they aren’t anywhere close to a one-man band, Florida barreled past LSU 51-21.

Of course, the leader of the band wasn’t too shabby either on a night when the Tigers absorbed their worst loss of the Les Miles era, a tougher-to-swallow clunker than a 34-14 loss to Georgia in the 2005 SEC Championship Game.

When it was mercifully over for LSU, Gators coach Urban Meyer jogged triumphantly off the field, pumping his arms to the remaining Swamp faithful after his team handed the Tigers their worst loss since a 31-0 shellacking at the hands of Alabama in 2002.

No. 4-ranked LSU (4-1, 2-1 SEC) trudged out of the finally quiet stadium with its first loss of the season and national championship chatter muffled, but perhaps not completely dead on a day when two other top-five teams tumbled.

The 11th-ranked Gators, meanwhile, chomped right back into the title hunt behind a steady, workmanlike effort from reigning Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and a suffocating defensive effort, buoyed by middle linebacker Brandon Spikes two interceptions.

“We played a very talented team (Saturday) that executed extremely well,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “We spotted them 20 points in the first half and really never got out of that hole.”

That hole opened quickly, grew to 17 points before the first quarter ended and was 20-0 before the Tigers finally began to push back.

LSU dug itself into a deep hole with an abysmal first quarter, when the defense had no solution to Tebow and an offense clicking on all cylinders.

The Gators drew blood on the third snap from scrimmage when Tebow uncoiled for a long pass to speedy Percy Harvin, who was downfield with LSU’s Danny McCray in one-on-one coverage.

McCray swatted Tebow’s floating pass, but it ricocheted right into Harvin’s hands and he criss-crossed the field for a 70-yard catch-and-run, the longest play surrendered by the Tigers this season.

Tebow engineered 77- and 41-yard drives on the next two Florida series, with Jonathan Phillips cranking a 20-yard field goal through the uprights and Harvin snaring a 7-yard TD pass on a quick slant.

While the Gators were percolating, LSU’s offense sputtered. On the Tigers’ first seven snaps, four plays went forward for 1 yard each.

When the first quarter closed, Florida had generated 186 yards and 10 first downs on 21 plays compared to 4 yards on seven snaps for LSU.

“Their defense took us out of the game,” Tigers receiver Chris Mitchell said. “We couldn’t execute the things we wanted. They made us pay for all of our mistakes.”

Staring at the biggest first-half deficit since 2001, LSU closed the gap to 20-14 with a touchdown right before halftime and a second on the opening series of the third quarter.

Tigers quarterback Jarrett Lee hooked up with Mitchell for a 6-yard score right before the break, pulling LSU within 20-7.

Then in the third quarter, the Tigers took the opening kickoff and methodically churned through the Florida defense.

Lee was 6-for-6 passing on a 12-play, 80-yard drive that culminated with backup quarterback Andrew Hatch slipping in on a 3-yard run.

As poorly as the Tigers played, they seemed to be poised for a comeback.

But Florida, a loser at home two weeks earlier to Ole Miss, snapped back with a touchdown when Tebow bulled in from the 2-yard line to push the lead back to 27-14. Tebow sparked the drive when he carved out 4 yards on a draw on third-and-3. Moments later he floated a perfect 37-yard pass to Louis Murphy.

“That was a classic Tim Tebow performance on that drive,” Meyer said. That was one of the biggest drives of the game.”

Added Tebow, “Our team came out with a little chip on our shoulder and played like we think we should every week.”

Florida nudged the lead to 34-14 when tailback Patrick Demps scampered 42 yards.

The backbreaker came on the first snap of the final period, when Gators linebacker Brandon Spikes popped in front of Brandon LaFell and swiped Lee’s pass and rambled 52 yards for a touchdown that boosted the lead to 41-14 and sapped whatever fight LSU had left.

Florida pinballed the Tigers defense for 17 points in the first and fourth quarters, and in between gashed the suddenly vulnerable front four with Demps and fellow freshman tailback Chris Rainey.

Demps crashed through the Tigers for 129 rushing yards and a touchdown, Rainey added 66 as the Gators eviscerated LSU for 265 rushing yards on 41 carries — 6.5 every time they ran.

Tebow, meanwhile, completed 14-of-21 passes for 210 yards and a pair of early touchdowns. He did most of that damage in the opening period, connecting on 8-of-10 passes for 149 yards.

Harvin racked up 102 receiving yards in the game’s initial 15 minutes.

After the sluggish start, LSU finished with 321 total yards, almost all of it coming when the Tigers were playing uphill. Lee threw for 209 yards, but Florida bottled up Charles Scott, limiting the SEC’s top rusher to 35 yards — 18 on the game’s final play.

“Any time you lose a game like this, it’s everybody,” Miles said. “It’s me, it’s our coaching staff, it’s certainly our offense, defense and special teams. It’s the call and it’s the player. But we’re all in it together. We’re a team and we understand the regroup and fight.”