http://collegefootballnews.com/2005/Columnists/MZ/Week8/IA_Aub_LSU.htm [font=verdana, arial, sans serif]Instant Analysis [/font][font=verdana, arial, sans serif] Auburn vs. LSU, Oct. 22[/font][font=verdana, arial, sans serif][size=-1] [/size][/font] ByMatthew Zemek Most folks might look to Auburn kicker John Vaughn as the reason why the visiting Tigers lost and the homestanding Tigers won Saturday night in Baton Rouge, but that’s only a small part of a larger story. In a game straight from both the Twilight Zone and a daytime soap opera, LSU defeated Auburn for a whole host of reasons, with Tommy Tuberville’s kicking game being only one piece of a much larger, more complex puzzle. How did LSU win this game? Let’s count the ways. First, give credit where credit is due: a white-shirted defense that collared Kenny Irons and stayed tight on its coverages in overtime. Second, the Bayou Bengals prevailed because of Chris Jackson. He banged through the winner in the extra stanza, but far more importantly, he rescued the home team from defeat by knocking through a 44-yarder late in regulation that most of Tiger Stadium, deep down inside, probably doubted he’d make. If you could judge and decipher the nature of the energy inside the big ballpark before Jackson’s kick, it was unmistakably negative. Watching on TV, you could feel the bad vibes radiating through the tube, and it was Jackson who overcame them in one of the biggest clutch kicks in LSU history. After that lightning bolt off his right foot, the overtime kick was cake. Third, LSU triumphed because JaMarcus Russell—whose receivers need to pay him back in a major way after their unconscionable end-zone drops in this just-completed game—wouldn’t let his team lose... again. Yes, the quarterback plays a very uneven game every time he takes the field, but when the chips are down, he makes plays. Think about it: down to Arizona State? Winning touchdown pass. Down 17-14 to Florida? Winning touchdown drive. Down 10-7 in this game after Kenny Irons’ electrifying touchdown run? Go-ahead TD drive. Down 17-14 after Brandon Cox’s ballsy touchdown pass to Anthony Mix on Tuberville’s courageous (and correct) fourth and goal grab for the gusto? Russell led his mates right down the field in response, setting up Jackson’s tying kick. Russell is a resilient player, and it’s that fearlessness that has enabled LSU to win in 2005, even while playing a lot of plug-ugly ball on offense. Fourth, LSU won because of a play that ESPN’s broadcast crew totally—and surprisingly—ignored. If you’ve watched football for any appreciable length of time, you can smell and feel a halfback option pass. It occurs when the running back drifts to the sidelines without barreling pell-mell toward the line of scrimmage (just a slight indicator, dontcha think?). Well, one play after another long run by the sensational Irons (this game would have become the “Irons Bowl” for Auburn had Tuberville’s team won) with just over 12 minutes remaining in regulation, AU’s Carl Stewart drifted to the right sideline with the football. A replay showed Anthony Mix all alone inside the LSU 5, between the numbers and the sideline, but Stewart, for some reason, never threw him the ball. While Bob Davie happily (and obliviously) commented on the balletic, graceful motions of Auburn’s right guard, he didn’t notice the unfurling of a halfback option pass by Auburn offensive coordinator Al Borges, who found something of a groove in the second half. The inability of Stewart to make this play became all the more devastating when Vaughn missed one of his many field goals a few plays afterward. Fifth—and this is admittedly open for debate—it could be said that LSU won in part because Tuberville inexplicably called timeout before Jackson’s tying field goal late in regulation. Not only did this timeout give Jackson a chance to gather his thoughts at a time when the energy in the stadium was entirely against LSU; what’s more is that it left Auburn without a timeout on its subsequent possession, when the visiting Tigers penetrated the homestanding Tigers’ 32. With one timeout in his hip pocket, Tuberville would have been able to drive farther down the field (although it should also be said that the officials took an astonishingly long time to spot the ball after a short Auburn completion in the late going; by this writer’s count, it took 14 seconds from the end of the play until the next snap—22 seconds to 8 seconds—an inexcusable amount of time between plays in a hurry-up context). But without the timeout, Tubs lost a precious opportunity to win in regulation and avoid the kicking contest that college football overtime can often be... and which it was on Saturday night, to the detriment of Auburn’s fortunes. LSU won for many reasons, but all the good people of Louisiana care about in a season ravaged by storms is that their beloved Tigers posted a “W.” The win keeps LSU in the SEC West race, whereas a loss would have driven a stake through the heart of the Bayou Bengals. Auburn still has a shot in the larger scheme of things, but to win their division—and eventually the entire SEC—the Tigers from Alabama need to stop misfiring. Goodness knows, they did a lot of that in Baton Rouge, to the relief of a Tiger Stadium crowd that witnessed an ending deliciously different from the agonizing Tennessee climax just a few weeks earlier.
"First, give credit where credit is due: a white-shirted defense that collared Kenny Irons" WOW!!!!!! That's the first time I've seen a back get "collared" and run for 218 yards. :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi:
I only saw him touch the ball once in OT so that would be the offensive coaches that collared him in OT right?
