Joel Klatt: DJ Lagway throws interceptions 'like Oprah hands out cars'

Joel Klatt didn’t hold back on DJ Lagway. He was disappointed with the Florida quarterback’s five interception performance against LSU in Week 3.

During the latest episode of The Joel Klatt Show, the FOX Sports analyst explained where it all went wrong for the Gators in Baton Rouge. Florida had a shot to win, as you can tell by the final score only being 20-10. However, Klatt believes their quarterback shot them in the foot over the weekend.

“Florida’s athletic, and they’re good. That’s not a bad football team by any stretch of the imagination. They happen to have a quarterback that makes it incredibly difficult to win tight ballgames because he constantly throws the football to the other team,” Klatt stated.

“When they get into matchup games or even FBS games, this guy throws interceptions like Oprah hands out cars. ‘You get a car, and you get a car.’ I mean, DJ Lagway has got to hold on to the football. That’s a massive issue. … You cannot make those throws. You can’t. It doesn’t matter how much talent you have.

“It doesn’t matter that the touchdown pass you threw was an absolute dime — and there aren’t many players in the country who can throw that ball with that trajectory and touch. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what you are at the top end as a quarterback. It doesn’t. It matters where your floor is.

“If your floor is so low that your team can’t win games because of your floor, that’s a problem. And that’s what’s going on with Florida and DJ Lagway. Five interceptions is not going to cut it. You can throw 30 passes and 25 of them can be perfect — which is never going to happen — but if five of them are awful, you lose.”

It all comes down to protecting the football. While Klatt may love Lagway’s athleticism, and the highlight reel style plays he can make, if he can’t protect the football the Gators won’t have much of a shot at bouncing back.

“The football is paramount,” Klatt added. “The position of quarterback is about the football. It’s about taking care of the football. It’s about operating the offense clean. And once you do that — once your floor is high enough that you can win football games — then your talent becomes the icing on the cake. You cannot start with talent. You can’t.

“You will fail, because your team won’t win football games. It might look cool. It might make the highlights. But DJ Lagway right now, versus FBS teams in his career — 13 games, eight of them starts — he’s got 11 touchdowns. Oh man, that’s great. Fifteen interceptions against FBS opponents. That can’t happen.”

The road doesn’t get much easier for Florida. In Week 4, they’ll face Miami at Hard Rock Stadium. College GameDay will be there, and the pressure will be on — perhaps Lagway can bounce back in a big way for the Gators.