BATON ROUGE, La. — If the Gators are the team they said they were in the preseason, they have yet to prove it. If they are the team that Billy Napier publicly pumped up as the head coach, they have gone into the witness protection program. And if the Gators are a team that is serious about making a run at the first College Football Playoff berth in school history, they better show up at practice Monday with an extra-large shovel.

The Gators are in a big hole and desperately need an escape route.

The final score Saturday night at sold-out Tiger Stadium showed that, despite five interceptions by sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway, the Gators had a chance. However, sometimes a 20-10 defeat seems worse than a 10-point loss.

That was what it felt like as the Gators trudged off the field after a fourth consecutive loss on the road to LSU and their sixth loss in the last seven games in one of the Southeastern Conference’s most colorful rivalries. Florida, ranked 13th in the country seven days earlier, looked like a team that had not only been beaten, but beaten down, after just three games into what had started as arguably the most promising season in five years.

Napier, who faced familiar criticism following a loss to USF a week ago at The Swamp, was pleased by his team’s response after a loud week.

“What I respect about our team tonight is they showed up ready to play,” Napier said. “I thought they competed their ass off. I thought they stuck together through the momentum [shifts] in the game, and we just made too many mistakes to win the game.

“We played well enough on defense, and I think we played well enough in the kicking game. We had momentum at times, and then we gave it away. Those are areas we need to improve, but in general, I’m proud of the team and the mindset that they brought here.”

Still, regardless of what the Gators did right against the Tigers, most of the aftermath centered on what Lagway did wrong. The young quarterback from Willis, Texas, making his 10th career start, became the first UF quarterback to throw five interceptions in a game in more than 30 years (Shane Matthews in a 1992 loss at Mississippi State).

As Matthews served as the Gators radio analyst in a booth high above the field Saturday night, Lagway struggled for the third consecutive game to find the rhythm in leading the offense the way he did in seven starts as a freshman, including a 27-16 home win over LSU that ignited a four-game winning streak to end the season.

He made some quality throws, including a 10-yard touchdown toss to Aidan Mizell late in the second quarter that tied the game 10-10, but an interception in the final minute of the first half led to an LSU field goal and a 13-10 Tigers lead at halftime.

Lagway finished 33 of 49 for 287 yards to win the yardage battle against LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier (15 of 27, 220 yards, one touchdown, one interception), but LSU converted two of Lagway’s interceptions into 10 points, which made the difference in the game.

The back-breaker was a 58-yard interception return for a touchdown by Dashawn Spears that put the Tigers up, 20-10, with 8:08 left in the third quarter, and caused a roar that sent ripples across the nearby Mississippi River on a hot and humid Louisiana night.

Napier entered his postgame press conference fully aware of what was coming.

“I know there will be a lot of dialogue and narrative about DJ, and he’ll take complete ownership of the things he can do better, and we all understand that,” Napier said. “I do think it’s important, okay, for everyone to understand that he’s still a young player. He’s an incredible teammate, and he’s an incredible young man, and he works as hard as any player that I’ve been around, and I think that tonight is not indicative of who he is as a teammate, a football player, and a leader on our team.

“He made mistakes, much like we’ve all made mistakes, so one thing I know about him is he’ll take complete ownership of the things that he can do better, and I would say that’s my responsibility. That’s part of coaching, so anytime your team makes mistakes, I think it’s a direct reflection of your coaching, and we need to do better in that regard.”

Lagway, a few minutes after Napier’s comments, took responsibility for his subpar performance.

He made throws into double- and triple-coverage that he shouldn’t have. He threw a costly interception by throwing across his body, trying to make something out of nothing with the Gators still in the game in the fourth quarter. Lagway played faster than in the season’s first two games as he came off a calf injury that cost him most of preseason camp, but his decision-making at critical times put the pressure on the defense to make another stop.

Lagway understands the Gators can’t beat quality teams with him playing the way he did Saturday.

“I didn’t play turnover-free ball, and every time you have five turnovers in a game, you can’t expect to win,” he said. “I’ve never had a performance like that in my life, so it’s kind of hard to process it. But at the end of the day, it’s all about how do you bounce back and how do you respond. And I’m planning on doing so.”

It won’t be easy.

Florida travels to face No. 5 Miami next weekend. The Hurricanes beat up USF, 49-12, on Saturday.

Florida’s defense limited LSU to 316 yards and 10 first downs. Usually, that type of performance in a night game in Baton Rouge is worthy of praise. The Tigers piled up more than 700 yards two years ago when the Gators came to town.

“I feel like we played well,” sophomore linebacker Myles Graham said. “We’re still not perfect. It’s closer to the standard, but it’s still not perfect. And it wasn’t good enough for the win, so it’s not good enough. It’s not just on the offense, it’s on us too. We could have made some plays, capitalized on more opportunities to make more plays and get off the field.”

The Gators arrived fired up, getting in a couple of skirmishes with the Tigers during pregame warmups. But too many mistakes, including a holding call that negated an 87-yard touchdown pass from Lagway to running back Jadan Baugh late in the first quarter, and too many giveaways cost them any chance at a victory in their SEC opener.

They head to Miami with a two-game losing streak and questions about how their young quarterback, the face of the program, will respond.

“We all understand the dynamic here. You know, this was his fourth week of full practice. He’s had a very unique offseason. He’s missed quite a bit of time,” Napier said. “He’s not going to use that as a crutch. This is not a young man that’s looking for excuses. He’s gonna learn from his experiences.”

If the Gators and Lagway are going to turn their season around, they’d better be fast learners.