Eddy Pineiro has watched plenty of extra point attempts sail through the uprights of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium over the course of his career.
He’d connected on 45 of 45 total attempts heading into this weekend, in fact, since transferring to Florida last season from junior college.
But when Pineiro jogged onto the field near the end of the third quarter on Saturday with the Gators trailing by one point to LSU, his streak of perfection met its end.
The kicker from Miami took two steps toward holder Johnny Townsend, planted his left leg firmly on the 10-yard line and shanked the ball wide left of UF’s goal posts, keeping the Tigers lead in tact.
The blunder ultimately proved fatal for Florida in its annual Homecoming game, as the Gators’ offense never found itself in scoring range for the rest of the afternoon.
UF mustered only 36 yards against LSU’s defense over the final quarter of play, losing its first SEC contest of the year, 17-16.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Feleipe Franks completed 10-of-16 passes for 108 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions, while Malik Davis, Lamical Perine and Kadarius Toney led Florida’s run-heavy scoring attack.
The Gators (3-2, 3-1 SEC) carried the ball 38 times, with Davis registering 90 yards on 14 attempts, Perine notching 70 yards on 12 attempts and Toney recording 52 yards on six attempts.
Perine also scored both of UF’s touchdowns on the day, building off an impressive three-touchdown performance against Vanderbilt one week prior.
For the Tigers, quarterback Danny Etling completed 9-of-16 passes for 125 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions, and starting running back Derrius Guice tallied 50 yards on 17 carries.
LSU (4-2, 1-1 SEC) found the end zone on its second possession of the game, topping off an 11-play drive with a 30-yard rushing touchdown from receiver Russell Cage.
After field goals from both teams near the end of the first half gave the Tigers a 10-3 lead at the intermission, Etling then opened the third quarter with a 2-yard touchdown pass to fullback Tory Carter.
Florida responded with back-to-back drives capped off by goal-line scores from Perine, but after Pineiro’s missed extra point kept LSU’s lead at one, UF wouldn’t get further than its own 46-yard line for the rest of the game.
None of the Gators three fourth-quarter drives lasted longer than 2:35 or registered more than 21 yards, resulting in two punts and a turnover on downs.
Florida as a whole finished the afternoon with 302 yards of total offense and was 2-for-9 on third down attempts, its lowest conversion rate in conference play this season.
Eddy Pineiro missed the first extra point of his career on Saturday against LSU, making the difference in a 17-16 loss for Florida on Homecoming.
