Auburn and LSU engaged in a slugfest and Auburn survived thanks to a stingy defense that wouldn’t budge and a reversed call that went its way late in the game. Eric Brock deflected a pass near the goal line to stop one late drive and then made a game-saving tackle on the final play to preserve No.3 Auburn’s 7-3 win over sixth-ranked LSU on Saturday.
With LSU facing fourth-and-eight from Auburn’s 32 and 2:43 left, LSU senior quarterback JaMarcus Russell fired the ball to Early Doucet near the goal line. A diving Brock deflected the pass but Zach Gilbert was called for pass interference that would have kept the drive alive with 2:43 left. The officials overturned the call. The reversal of the call left LSU players and coaches furious, and Auburn’s bench overjoyed. Auburn got the ball but LSU’s defense proved just as tough.
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Auburn (3-0, 2-0) ran Kenny Irons three straight times for a total of three-yards to give LSU the ball back with 1:11 left at his own 20. The visiting Tigers drove to Auburn’s 24 with 2.5 seconds left but Russell found Craig Davis inside the ten but Brock stopped him cold with a jarring hit at the six. Only then could Auburn fans celebrate, their national title hopes intact following the clash of SEC Western Division Powers.
LSU (2-1, 0-1) had five drives inside Auburn territory end with no points. It was the lowest scoring game at Auburn since 1973.
On the final drive, Russell hit Davis for gains of 20 and 21 yards down the left sideline but Karibi Dede chased Russell down from behind for a one-yard loss. After spiking the ball, Russell hit Dwayne Bowe for a 21-yard gain to the 19. Bowe Stepped out of bounds with 14 seconds left. With one more shot, Russell didn’t throw into the end zone and Brock wouldn’t let Davis get there.
“There was a tremendous ballgame played,” LSU head coach Les Miles said following the game. “Both teams fought like heck. Auburn won. Deservedly, they got the victory. Our football team played well. They deserve to have been treated very fairly and I don’t know if that quite happened (referring to the reversed pass interference call). There are no excuses. They won, but I need to get a better understanding of the rules.”
“Our guys played like champions,” Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said. “When you look at the score and the stats, everybody thinks that was a boring game. But there was a lot of excitement.”
It’s the first time since 1972 these teams have met with both ranked in the Top 10. The game lived up to its billing mostly because of a pair of punishing, blitzing defenses.
Auburn’s hoping history repeats itself. Five times in the last six years, the winner of this game has won the Western Division Title.
