BATON ROUGE — UAB placekicker Rhett Gallego kicked a 32-yard field goal with four seconds remaining to defeat the Tiger on Homecoming, 13-10, here in Tiger Stadium.
With 22 seconds remaining, UAB’s Chris Brown intercepted a Josh Booty pass and ran it back to the LSU 15-yard line, leading to the final field goal.
The Tigers (2-2)looked to be headed toward overtime with less than one minute to play and deep in their own territory after the defense held UAB at mid-field and a poor punt left the ball at 19-yard line.
However, the interception and run back led to an easy field goal and the UAB (2-1) win.
SECOND HALF RECAP
UAB defender Chris Brown intercepted a Josh Booty pass with 25 seconds remaining and returned it to the LSU 14-yard line. Two plays later Rhett Gallego converted on a 37-yard field goal attempt and UAB stunned LSU, 13-10.
Domanick Davis ended the LSU scoring drought and scored a touchdown from 1-yard out cutting the UAB lead to 10-7. The score set up by a 50-yard drive including two key receptions. Josh Reed made a huge third down catch and Domanick Davis made a one-handed reception while being interfered with to give LSU a first and goal at the UAB seven yard line.
Ryan Clark stepped up and made a huge play by picking off a deep Dixon pass in an acrobatic fashion. LSU took over at the 47-yard line. After the Tigers earned two first downs, Corbello converted on a 35-yard field goal tying the game at 10-10 with 10:33 remaining.
Squandered field position was the theme in the third quarter for LSU. LSU started drives on the UAB 19, the 50 and its own 42 and failed to score points.
LSU caught a break when UAB punt returner Percy Coleman muffed a Donnie Jones punt on his own 19-yard line. LSU’s LaVar Johnson recovered the muff and the Tigers took over. However, the Tigers squandered the opportunity. UAB forced another turnover with an interception by Sentell Winston in the endzone. Booty’s bootleg pass was deflected off of the hands of Banks and scooped up by Winston. The touchback gave UAB the ball at its own 20-yard line.
LSU drove the ball well on its next possession. But dropped passes by Reed and Robinson stalled the drive. LSU kicker John Corbello missed a 44-yard field goal attempt wide left and LSU remained scoreless.
FIRST HALF RECAP
LSU was off to a shaky start, trailing UAB 10-0 at halftime. The Blazers added to their 3-0 lead in the second quarter. UAB marched down the field 78 yards using primarily their option attack. UAB quarterback Daniel Dixon connected with Leron Little on a 24-yard touchdown strike and UAB led 10-0 with 7:14 remaining in the half.
UAB played inspired defense, while LSU has had an assortment of problems including penalties, poor blocking up front and a lack of overall execution offensively.
The Tigers gave UAB great field position in the first quarter. LeBrandon Toefield fumbled and the Blazers recovered it on the LSU 33-yard line. After a pass interference call allowed UAB to enter the red zone, Ryan Clark broke up a potential touchdown pass in the endzone and UAB settled for a 29-yard field goal by Rhett Gallego. The Blazers led 3-0 with 5:00 remaining in the first quarter.
The LSU defense played well for the most part in the first half. The defense made some big stops which kept LSU in the game.
Early on, UAB locked down the LSU offense. The Blazers dominated the line of scrimmage as they swarmed to the football causing havoc for the LSU running game. Meanwhile, they were very successful in putting pressure on LSU quarterback Josh Booty. He was hit in the pocket on almost every pass attempt. The Blazers batted down two of Booty’s passes at in the line of scrimmage also.
Finally, with less than two minutes remaining in the first quarter, Toefield and the LSU offensive line found their rhythm. Toefield burst for runs of eight,14, and six yards. However, LSU failed to score points on the drive. Booty’s third-down pass deflected off the hands of Reggie Robinson and was intercepted by A. Singleton at the UAB 14-yard line.
The next dilemma for the Tigers was penalties. While trying to put a drive together early in the second quarter, LSU was penalized consecutively in one series for holding, clipping and an ineligible man down field.
The lone bright spot for LSU in the first half was Domanick Davis’s punt returns. He returned punts for 22, 16 and 28 yards.
Booty struggled in the first half going 5-for-13 with 33 yards and an interception. LSU only managed 91 yards of offense in the first half.
- Tonight’s attendance of 85,339 is the second largest in the history of Tiger Stadium, behind the 87,188 that saw LSU beat Western Carolina 58-0 on Sept. 2, 2000.
- UAB is the sixth consecutive non-conference opponent LSU has played on homecoming dating back to 1994 when the Tigers lost to South Carolina 18-17. LSU had not lost a homecoming game since then.
- This was LSU’s first loss on homecoming to a non-conference opponent since a 38-14 defeat at the hands of Florida State on Oct. 24, 1981. The Tigers were 9-0 since then on homecoming against non-conference foes, including the last five.
- LSU wore purple jerseys for the second time this season, breaking the tradition of wearing white jerseys at home. In the first game wearing purple, on Sept. 9, the Tigers beat Houston 28-13.
- LSU lost on a field goal on the last play of the game in Tiger Stadium for the third time since 1989. The other two were a 16-13 loss to Florida on Oct. 7, 1989 and a 39-36 loss to Kentucky on Oct. 17, 1998.
- For the first time since the 22-16 loss to Alabama on Nov. 7, 1998, LSU outgained an opponent and lost. In that game LSU had 486 yards to only 369. Tonight, the Tigers had 263 yards to only 178 for UAB.
- LSU players extending double-digit starting streaks tonight were Louis Williams (26), Fred Booker (21), Ryan Clark (15), Jerel Myers (15) and Trev Faulk (12)
Reggie Robinson and Jerel Myers each extended streaks of consecutive games with a reception. Robinson has now caught a pass in 21 straight games while Myers has a catch in 15 straight, every game of his career.
- After stopping UAB on its opening drive of the game, the Tigers have now stopped their opponent on their first drive in nine consecutive games.
- UAB’s first quarter field goal marked the first points allowed by LSU in the opening period of the game this season. Dating back to last year, the Tigers had not allowed a first-quarter point since Houston scored a touchdown on November 20, 1999. It is also the first time an LSU opponent has scored first this season.
- LSU’s 3-0 deficit at the end of the first quarter marked the first time the Tigers have trailed at the end of the opening stanza in nine games, since Kentucky led LSU 14-5 en route to a 31-5 victory on October 16, 1999 in Lexington, Ky.
Josh Booty moved into ninth place, passing Y. A. Tittle, in LSU history for career passing yards in the second quarter when he connected with LaBrandon Toefield for a three yard gain.
- With a one-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, Domanick Davis reached the end zone for the first time this season and fourth time, all rushing, in his career.
Domanick Davis’ 153 yards returning (98 on punts and 55 on kickoffs) is a new career high, bettering the 144 he had against Houston earlier this year. It is also the most return yards since Kevin Faulk had 195 (90 on punts and 105 on kickoffs) against Alabama in the Crimson Tide’s 26-0 win over LSU on Nov. 9, 1996.
Domanick Davis had a career-high 226 all-purpose yards (153 returning, 32 rushing, 41 receiving) in the game, bettering the 179 he racked up in the 28-13 win over Houston on Sept. 9. It is the most since Kevin Faulk had 249 all-purpose yards (201 rushing, 10 receiving, 38 returning) in LSU’s 22-16 loss to Alabama on Nov. 7, 1998.
- LSU recovered its fifth and sixth fumbles of the year in the game. Lavar Johnson recovered a fumble for the first time in his career when Percy Coleman could not handle a punt. Trev Faulk recovered a fumble for the second time this season when Carl Fair put the ball on the ground.
Ryan Clark intercepted a Daniel Dixon pass in the fourth quarter for his first pick of the year. It is the fourth interception of his career as he had three a season ago, the last one coming in the final game of the year against Arkansas.
Donnie Jones had a career-long punt of 69 yards in the fourth quarter. The punt is the longest in LSU history since Matt DeFrank booted one 69 yards in the Tigers’ 34-9 win over Kentucky on October 17, 1987.
John Corbello‘s 35-yard field goal was his second made field goal of the year. The previous was a 36-yard made attempt in LSU’s 58-0 win over Western Carolina on Sept. 2, 2000.?
- With 329 yards punting (on seven punts for a 47.0 average) tonight, Donnie Jones set a new career high. It is the most yards punting for an LSU player since Chad Kessler had 400 yards (on eight punts for a 50.0 average) in the Tigers’ 31-28 loss to Auburn on Sept. 20, 1997.
- Game captains for LSU were Tommy Banks, Kareem Mitchell and Robert Royal.
LSU HEAD COACH NICK SABAN QUOTES
“Obviously we feel pretty bad about the way we performed today. I feel bad for the players. The only thing we can when things go wrong, and it’s something that’s a little embarrassing for you. You have to be a bigger man about it, but you have to learn from your mistakes. And we made plenty of them today. We had far too many penalties, we had the ball three times in the red zone and didn’t get any points out of it at all. We dropped a lot of footballs and gave up field position time and time again because of penalties.”
“I know everybody is going to say, ?Why didn’t you sit on it at the ball.’ We called four streaks in the end of the game. You are supposed the throw the check-down if they bail out and play 20-yards deep, which they were. I’ve gone the length of the field with 35-seconds to go in the game, especially to kick a field goal. We could have dumped the ball down to Dominick Davis and let him run for 10 or 15-yards. We had two timeouts. Maybe we can get it close enough that we need one play to kick a field goal. We didn’t have to go the length of the field, we only had to go about 50-yards. “
“We’ve done it before, we’ve done it at Michigan St. before and we have just as good skill guys here. If you want to second guess it, I’ll be the first to do it. There was no out route on the play. So there is no way that ball could have been delivered there. It was either throw it deep or throw the out route. We didn’t get it executed.”
“It’s my fault, I’ll take responsibility for it. When players don’t do what they’re supposed to do out there, we have to do a better job of teaching them.”
UAB HEAD COACH WATSON BROWN QUOTES
“I’m real proud of our guys to say the least. We’ve been there two or three times against some really good teams. We were last week, and we just didn’t make the play down the stretch. Tonight the kids just found a way.”
“I think that it proves that there is a lot of ways to win a football game. It’s not just offense, and it’s not just defense, it’s not just field position, it’s playing with heart and desire.”
“Tonight we had good field position. We played good defense and we made the plays when we had to. I give my kids a lot of credit to come in here and win this game. All week they had been reading in the paper that this was just a “buy win”, but we’ve been on the road playing people hard for four years now.”
“I don’t think that anybody thinks that we go in and play for money. Our kids showed a lot of class tonight, and I’m very proud of them.”
“We were able to shake up their defense on that one touchdown drive. Besides that we really weren’t able to move the ball consistently.”
On the touchdown pass
“We had run the option a couple of times and we ran the pass on a fake option hoping the secondary would bite, and they bit enough for it to work.”
“We’ve just got to put it behind us and bounce back. We played hard, we just made too many mistakes. They are a great team. They have a lot of talent and on defense, they are going to do some things this year. We’ve just got to bounce back and stop making as many mental mistakes as we’ve been making and get ready for Tennessee and get ready.
“I had to go out there and do whatever I could do to help the team. Compton got a concussion and they decided to move me to center. I had to play my hardest. I did decently well. There were a couple of things I messed up on. Not getting a lot of snaps there, that’s going to happen. I thought I did relatively well. The biggest thing we were doing was shooting ourselves in the foot all night long. There was no question we could move the ball up and down the field. Everytime we get a 10, 20, 30 yard run or pass, it gets called back for holding or something like that. We just have to eliminate the mistakes and bounce back. We’ve got some good leaders on this team and we’ve been in this position before and hopefully we can do things differently than we’ve done in the past and bounce back”
“We can learn from it. We can’t look back it. There’s a 24-hour rule around here where we win we celebrate, when we lose we have 24 hours to celebrate. The attitude around here is we are going to look forward to Tennessee. We have something to prove against Tennessee. We have to forget about it. That’s all we can do.”
“It’s something we’ve got to overcome. We knew they were just going to come out and play hard. We knew we were going to have a fight on our hands because they have a very good defense. They did the things we need to do and we didn’t. If you play hard and don’t do the right things, you’re not going to win.”
“It was tough for all of us from the get go. We didn’t come out ready to play. They were doing everything right. We were doing everything wrong.”