BATON ROUGE — One play salvaged a season and another helped catapult LSU to its first Southeastern Conference title in nearly 15 years and both took place in back-to-back years in Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington in 2001 and 2002.
The LSU-Auburn series may be known for having a run of freakish, if not downright, earthshaking events, but the drama that has unfolded in the Tigers’ last two visits to the Bluegrass State has been anything but ordinary.
Top-ranked LSU will make its first trip to Lexington in five years on Saturday when the undefeated and 6-0 Tigers face 17th-ranked Kentucky (5-1). Saturday’s game will be the first visit to Commonwealth Stadium for LSU coach Les Miles and every member of his Tiger team. However, they are familiar, as is most of the nation, with what took place on a late Autumn afternoon in Commonwealth Stadium on Nov. 9, 2002.
Five years ago, the Tigers went into Commonwealth Stadium reeling from a 31-7 road loss at the hands of Auburn in its previous outing and in desperate need of a boost to get their season back on track. The Tigers, who had lost their starting quarterback Matt Mauck to a season-ending injury in a win over Florida a month earlier, had struggled to find its rhythm on offense in the two games they played with backup Marcus Randall.
All of that seemed to have changed against Kentucky as Randall threw first half touchdown passes of 70 and 30 yards to Devery Henderson for a 14-7 halftime lead. The Tigers extended their cushion to 21-7 on their first play of the second half when Joseph Addai raced 63 yards for a score and it appeared that LSU was on its way to an easy victory.
LSU’s offense then hit a bump, struggling the remainder of the third quarter and most of the fourth quarter, while Kentucky, behind quarterback Jared Lorenzen, found its groove. Lorenzen guided the Wildcats to touchdowns on three of their last four possessions, the final one tying the score at 27-27 with just over two minutes left.
After a three-and-out by the LSU offense and a 21-yard punt return by Kentucky, the Wildcats now found themselves at the LSU 31-yard line with just under a minute left. It appeared that all Kentucky would need to do was pick up a few yards and then kick a field goal to post the improbable comeback victory against an LSU team that went into the contest ranked No. 14 in the nation.
That’s exactly what happened, or so the fans thought, as Taylor Begley drilled a 29-yard field goal with 11 seconds left to give the Wildcats a 30-27 lead over the Tigers.
That’s when divine intervention appeared to have stepped in.
What happened on LSU’s ensuing possession is something that will be talked about for years. It made Randall and Henderson overnight folk heroes. Following Henderson’s 8-yard kickoff return, the Tigers faced first down and what looked like a miracle to reverse the outcome of this game.
Things didn’t start well for the Tigers on this final drive. On first down, the Tigers were penalized five yards before even getting a play off for delay of game. With the clock down to nine seconds, Randall hit Michael Clayton across the middle for a 17-yard gain. A quick Tiger timeout with two seconds left set the stage for one of the all-time great endings (if you’re an LSU fan) in the history of college football.
In the huddle, the call was made ? Dash Right 93 Berlin. In layman’s terms that meant receivers run like heck and Randall throw it as far as you can. It worked, or at least something worked, as Randall heaved the ball 66 yards where it was first tipped by two Kentucky defenders at the UK 18-yard line. From there, the ball ended up in Henderson’s hands where he bobbled it for four yards, finally gaining control at the 15.
Henderson, composed, then raced by a would- be Kentucky defender and sprinted into the endzone for a 33-30 LSU victory and thus the birth of the Bluegrass Miracle.
Meanwhile, Kentucky fans had charged the field, fireworks had gone off in one of the endzones in anticipation of the Wildcat victory and UK students were even tearing down one of the goal posts.
Perhaps the two best quotes regarding the play, which would end of being named the College Football Play of the Year, came from Lexington Herald Writer John Clay who wrote, “those of us from here thought of someone else… of Christian Laettner in cleats.”
Kentucky radio announcer Tom Leach said, “Fans are up on the goal post. I don’t know why.”
That victory helped propel the Tigers to an 8-4 regular season and a berth in the Cotton Bowl.
A year prior to the Bluegrass Miracle, the drama wasn’t as intense, but it was certainly memorable as another late fourth quarter drive by the Tigers was the difference in winning and losing for LSU.
LSU brought a 2-2 overall mark and a 1-1 league record into Lexington for its Oct. 13 contest with the Wildcats in 2001. LSU was still a team in search of an identity after back-to-back losses to Tennessee and Florida with the latter coming in Tiger Stadium by a 44-15 count.
LSU again wasted little time in this game setting the tone, jumping out to a 12-0 first quarter lead before holding a 22-10 halftime advantage. Kentucky’s defense held the Tiger offense in check for most of the second half as the Wildcats, behind the play of Lorenzen, rallied again. This time, Kentucky scored 15 unanswered points to take a 25-22 lead with just over eight minutes in the contest.
After trading possessions over the next five minutes, LSU had one final shot at either pulling out a victory or going home with what would have been a third straight defeat. For LSU, a loss would have certainly washed away any hopes at winning a conference title. It didn’t matter because in a span of three minutes, the Tigers transformed into a champion with steely Rohan Davey leading the charge.
Davey guided LSU on a 12-play, 80-yard drive that spanned just over three minutes. Davey completed seven straight passes, three coming on third down, during the game-winning drive. The victory was sealed when Davey connected with true freshman Michael Clayton on a 6-yard pass with 13 seconds left to give the Tigers a 29-25 lead.
There would be no Bluegrass Miracle for the Wildcats as the Tiger defense batted down two Kentucky passes in the final seconds to ice the win. The victory over Kentucky was a springboard that vaulted the Tigers to eight wins in their next nine games.
LSU went on to beat Tennessee in the SEC title game to claim the school’s first outright league championship since 1986. LSU then went on to beat Illinois, 47-34, in the Sugar Bowl and set the tone for what has been a dominating decade of football for the Tigers.