AUBURN, Ala. — Three weeks ago LSU survived a scare from Oregon State in its home opener thanks in a large part to three missed PATs. On Saturday, the fifth-ranked Tigers weren’t as lucky as a missed PAT of their own turned out to be the deciding point, one in which the Auburn Tigers took advantage of.
Quarterback Jason Campbell found Courtney Taylor with a 16-yard strike in the back of the endzone with 1:17 remaining and Auburn then had two chances to convert the PAT –in which they did — snapping LSU’s 10-game winning streak by the score of 10-9, in front of a Jordan-Hare Stadium record crowd of 87,451 on Saturday.
The record-breaking crowd, the largest to witness a football game in the state of Alabama, surprised school officials after a tumultuous week in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan. Ivan struck the Alabama Gulf Coast early Thursday morning leaving thousands of residents without power.
The loss, the first since suffering a 19-7 setback versus Florida on Oct. 11 of last year, dropped LSU to 2-1 overall and 0-1 in Southeastern Conference play. Auburn gained an early inside track atop the Western Division standings with the win and improved to 3-0 overall.
LSU opens its SEC home slate next Saturday at 11:30 a.m. against Mississippi State. The game will be televised by Jefferson Pilot. Auburn resumes its campaign with a non- conference tilt versus The Citadel at 1:30 p.m.
Campbell finished the game 16-of-27 for 170 yards and one touchdown.
LSU sophomore Alley Broussard led all rushers in the game with 84 yards on 10 carries, while Auburn’s Carnell “Cadillac” Williams and Ronnie Brown combined to rush for 142 yards on 27 carries.
Auburn won the coin toss and deferred until the second half, giving the LSU offense a chance to strike first, an advantage the Tigers would make the most of.
Facing a hostile crowd, LSU drove 80 yards on 14 plays in an extended 6:37, capped off by Dwayne Bowe’s 9-yard touchdown reception from Marcus Randall, who finished the drive 4-for-6 with 45 yards. Ryan Gaudet missed the point after conversion, making it just a 6-0 contest with 8:23 to go in the first quarter.
The Tigers were a perfect 3-for-3 on third down conversions on the drive, including a critical 12-yard completion to Craig Davis and a 19-yard leaping reception by David Jones, but the missed PAT would ultimately come back to haunt LSU.
Auburn responded and looked to have knotted the game with an impressive 69-yard drive, but the LSU defense held tough when LaRon Landry blitzed and then sacked Jason Campbell for a 7-yard loss, forcing John Vaughn to attempt a 49-yard field goal. Vaughn split the uprights to cut the deficit in halve at the 1:37 mark in the first quarter.
For Landry, it was the sophomore’s third sack of the season and seventh of his career.
On LSU’s next possession, JaMarcus Russell made his first appearance in the game. The Mobile, Ala. native made his presence known firing his first pass to a wide open Davis down the far sideline for 42 yards, but a 10-yard loss on the following play forced LSU into second and long.
Following two incompletions, Chris Jackson nailed a 42-yard field goal to negate the Vaughn offering, giving the Tigers a six-point advantage with 13:48 on the clock in the second quarter.
The teams alternated the next four possessions, in which neither could muster any offensive drives. Despite the combined ground attack of Carnell “Cadillac” Williams’ and Ronnie Brown, Auburn was penalized for 45 yards, two of which were over 15 yards apiece.
A 22-yard run by Williams from the Auburn 33 set the Auburn Tigers up with great field position. Again, penalties and offensive miscues and a critical Lionel Turner sack on third and 9 at the Auburn 44 forced the Tigers into their third punt of the first half.
Corey Webster received the 43-yard Kody Bliss boot at his own 3-yard line. Webster, who saw action on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball, nearly cost the Tigers when he muffed the punt. Fortunately, the senior from Vacherie corralled the ball before any Auburn defender could jump on it.
The LSU Tigers took a 9-3 advantage into the half, electing to run out the clock on its final possession with a series of quarterback draws by Randall.
At the half, the Auburn offense had churned up 88 yards on the ground with 70 of those yards coming from Williams.
Auburn received the opening kickoff of the second half and went nowhere on its first possession as the LSU defense slammed the door shut on the Auburn ground attack forcing Bliss to attempt his fourth punt of the game.
Turnovers had not affected any team by the half, but on LSU’s first touch of the third quarter, Auburn defensive end Stanley McClover chased down Randall on a quarterback draw, punching the ball through his grasp and onto the turf. When the pile had been removed, Tommy Jackson had recovered it, yielding a tremendous scoring opportunity for Auburn at the LSU 42.
With the momentum at their backs, the LSU defense stood tall, despite two galloping runs by Williams deep into LSU territory. Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville elected to pooch punt, doing so inside the LSU 5.
Then it was the legs of Alley Broussard that ran LSU out of a hole. Broussard scampered for two first downs and busted one for 38 yards in which he ran over two Auburn would- be tacklers down to the Auburn 46.
But once again, the drive stalled and a personal foul penalty by freshman Early Doucet, drove the Tigers back to their own 47. Facing third and long, Auburn’s Bret Eddins blindsided Randall and dropped him to the turf with 4:12 in the third quarter at the LSU 37.
The series seemed to ignite Auburn, who immediately went to the air on the first play of its next possession when Campbell found a wide-open tight end Cooper Wallace for 30 yards at the LSU 41. Two plays later, Campbell nailed Taylor over the middle for a 16-yard gain and followed that up with another completion to Wallace, this time for 12 yards down to the LSU 10.
After Brown faked a halfback pass and rushed for 7 yards, Auburn faced the dilemma of kicking a field goal or going for it at the LSU three-yard line on fourth and two. The Tigers selected the latter, electing to try to punch the ball into the north endzone. Campbell dropped back and fired an incomplete pass intended for Anthony Mix, yielding the ball to LSU on downs.
LSU still led 9-3 with 1:03 to go in the third quarter.
Unable to move the ball, Jackson came on to punt the ball away to Williams who dropped back for Auburn. The all-everything running back muffed the punt at the LSU 45. Sophomore Daniel Francis, who continues to emerge as a playmaker on special teams, recovered the cough up, giving LSU a chance to extend the lead with 14:48 to play in the game.
Russell, in his second series of the second half, drove LSU down to the Auburn 33 thanks in a large part to Doucet, who redeemed himself from the penalty with two tremendous catches over the middle. But for the third time of the half, the drive stalled.
The deciding series came three possessions later when Auburn marched into LSU territory on a series of hard-nosed runs by Williams and Brown and a couple of key catches by Courtney Taylor.
Auburn faced fourth and 12 at the LSU 28, but Campbell scrambled and found Taylor streaking down the sidelines for a first down at the LSU 14. Taylor finished the 55-yard, six-play drive off by making his first career touchdown reception in the back of the endzone with 1:14 remaining in regulation.
LSU looked to have caught another break when John Vaughn pulled the PAT to the left, but a critical personal foul penalty gave Auburn another chance it would make the best of.
Vaughn would not squander his second opportunity as he split the uprights to give Auburn a 10-9 lead with 1:14 to go.
LSU would not go quietly, driving the ball down the field into Auburn territory, but Russell was intercepted at the Auburn 38 by Junior Rosegreen with 16 seconds left.
Russell finished the game 8-of-19 for 123 yards and one interception. His main target, Craig Davis finished the game with a career high 88 yards receiving on four catches.
LSU vs. Auburn — Sept. 18, 2004 – Jordan-Hare Stadium
Game Notes
Team Notes
- LSU