By KACE KIESCHNICK, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
LSU’s 22-21 loss to Texas Saturday night brought forth nightmarish flashbacks of the Tigers’ 35-34 overtime loss at Kentucky on Oct. 10 to LSU fans and coach Lane Kiffin, who will be tossin’ and turnin’ over this one, too, for weeks and months, if not longer.
That’s when Kentucky quarterback Kenny Minchey waltzed into the end zone unfettered on the game-winning two-point conversion after LSU had taken a 34-27 lead with the first possession of OT. This time, it was Texas running back Raleek Brown, who won the game with an untouched score from 4 yards out on a pass from quarterback Arch Manning.
Against the Wildcats, Kiffin said there was a defensive miscommunication relaying the play call, and Minchey went unaccounted for. That was not the case against Texas. The Tigers were manned up and on the same page. It just came down to execution and a late start by LSU linebacker Davhon Keys to catch up to Brown, who went in motion far to the left just before Manning took the snap.
“Disappointed for our players, our fans, that the game comes down to one play, and with all the hard plays through the game, we just don’t run out and cover the guy,” Kiffin said. “And they make the play really easy, and they walk into the end zone.”
Brown motioned in the Texas backfield, first to the right, then snapped back left and swung out to the empty, far side of the field. Keys, who has been starting for Whit Weeks since Weeks broke his fibula against Texas A&M on Sept. 26 and has not returned, raced toward the sideline to try to catch up with him. But Keys allowed Brown too big of a head start before following his pre-snap motion. Keys had no chance to beat Brown to the pylon.
It was a monumental disappointment in a game that the No. 21 Tigers (6-4, 3-4 SEC) led by 21-10 deep into the third quarter. Kiffin said it was made harder to stomach by how easy it was for the No. 6 Longhorns (8-2, 5-2 SEC).
“It’s really discouraging – kind of like the last play to Kentucky – that so much comes down to one thing, and there it is,” Kiffin said. “I like it a lot better when they got to work for the plays, or we miss a tackle, or a guy is better.”
Well, Brown was better than Keys on this play. And another “guy” was better than Kiffin in that crucial moment – Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian, Kiffin’s old buddy from their USC assistant coaching days decades ago.
All four of Kiffin’s losses in his first season at LSU have come in games that were one-score affairs late in the second half. LSU lost to Texas and Kentucky on the very last play, but they also failed to find the end zone in the final minute in a 32-24 loss at Ole Miss for a game-tying touchdown and two-point conversion that could’ve tied it 32-32. And LSU allowed Alabama to break away late in the third quarter and fourth quarter for a 31-13 win after the Tigers led 13-10 with 2:44 to go in the third.
The Tigers’ wins have been impressive blowouts over bad teams, but they consistently fail to make the necessary game-winning plays in clutch moments against premier opponents.
“I don’t know if that’s really a mindset,” Kiffin said. “That’s really just really poor execution, not making them have to make plays.”
But, as Kiffin alluded to, one play was not the reason LSU lost to Texas. There were numerous missed opportunities on both sides of the ball throughout the game. LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt through three interceptions – two of them in the red zone and caught in the end zone. Kicker Scott Starzyk missed a 38-yard field goal before halftime that could have been the difference and could have put the Tigers up 17-10 at the half. The LSU offense possessed the ball four times in the fourth quarter and gained one first down.
The defense’s miscue on the final play was only made possible by the 11 previous. Texas and quarterback Arch Manning got the ball back on their own 42-yard line with 2:19 left in the game. The Longhorns seemed hardly rushed by the game clock as they marched their way through LSU territory. Manning completed 6 of 8 passes for 51 yards and scrambled for another 11 yards on the 12-play, 58-yard drive for the winning TD
The Longhorns’ only negative play on the possession was a 6-yard sack by LSU edge Jordan Ross. Manning, who is Texas’ best quarterback since Vince Young against ranked teams at 9-2, responded with a 13-yard pass on the following snap. Texas faced three third downs on the drive, and Manning converted all three, much like his grandfather Archie Manning, who beat LSU in 1968 and ’69 with fourth quarter rallies. He didn’t even need any fourth-down conversions. And he threw the game winner on second down and goal from the 4.
“We saw that they were trying to get their guys in the slot, go up against me and (safety) Tamarcus Cooley,” defensive back/star Ty Benefield said of the last drive. “It came down to just the running back out as you guys saw, and just all about leverage and trying to help guys out and put them in the best spot.”
Kiffin said he was content to play conservatively and play to the strength of his defense – the same rationale he had for punting on fourth-and-one from his own 43-yard line in the final moments of regulation against Kentucky. And LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker then, of course, allowed a 67-yard drive with no timeouts into field goal range to send the game into overtime. Kiffin was haunted by that decision in the weeks following the loss at Kentucky, but he again trusted his defense anyway.
There was another factor this time, though. Kiffin didn’t trust his erratic, interception-prone quarterback as Leavitt’s three on this night brought his season total to 12. He only threw one in the loss at Kentucky and had zero in the wins over Mississippi State and at Auburn before one pick last week against Alabama.
“I feel like if you want to play defense at a high level, and you play defense and you really love this, that’s something that you want,” Benefield said of the pressure that LSU’s lack of offense after taking a 21-10 lead in the third quarter put on the defense for the rest of the game.
“You want that pressure on you,” said Benefield, who intercepted two passes while making eight tackles with a sack and a quarterback hurry. His 31-yard interception return to the Texas 7-yard line in the second quarter set up Leavitt’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Jackson Harris two plays later to put the Tigers up 14-7 with 9:17 to go before halftime.
“You want the opportunity to have those plays,” Benefield said. “Those are all opportunities.”
The defense answered the call on the Longhorns’ first five possessions of the second half, allowing just two field goals, grabbing two more interceptions, including a second by Benefield, and forcing a three-and-out in the fourth quarter. But they could not execute when it counted as against Kentucky.
“Right now, I’m just trying to keep positive,” Benefield, a senior transfer from Boise State, said in an emotional postgame press conference. “I think there’s a lot of media out there, and there’s a lot of emotions that can obviously flip you one way. I’m trying not to do that. This really hurts, and really hurts my guys, too. People don’t see how hard this is on young kids.”
Benefield mentioned what he wears across his nose in black tape, which says Mental Health Matters.
“You guys see what I have on my face,” he said. “Mental health matters, and this is something that’s really important to us. But I’m trying to stay positive and rally behind my guys. I mean, I told them I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else with anybody else, and I stand by that no matter if it’s a win or loss.”
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