By KACE KIESCHNICK, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
LSU coach Lane Kiffin said in September that part of the reason he was hired at LSU was for his aggressive play calling, but that killer offensive mentality was forgotten in the Tigers’ 22-21 to Texas on Saturday night in Tiger Stadium. Instead, Kiffin, who is often heralded as an offensive guru and is sometimes criticized for being too aggressive, chose to lean on his defense.
“I kind of planned that this may happen, to play to a game like this,” he said in his postgame press conference. “Now, obviously, I didn’t think we’d throw the three interceptions, but maybe it will be a low-scoring game and we’ll play to our defense.”
Through the first three quarters of the game, that philosophy worked. Defensive coordinator Blake Baker’s unit allowed an 11 play, 75-yard touchdown drive to open the game, but after that series, it bent and did not break. The defense came up with three interceptions, forced two punts and held the Longhorns to a trio of long field goals.
On the other side, the offense kept up its usual pace. They drove down the field repeatedly, but much like in the loss to Alabama, failed to put points up thanks to a missed field goal before the end of the first half and two Sam Leavitt interceptions in the end zone. Still, with the exception of a quick touchdown drive that started on the Texas 7-yard line, only one of LSU’s first six drives did not march at least 50 yards over five plays or more. Through three quarters, the offense put up 344 yards in 54 plays.
Then, the fourth quarter started.
Over the Tigers’ final four drives, they ran 15 plays for -1 yard.
LSU did not punt once until there was 14:11 left in the game, but with four separate opportunities to ice the game, LSU’s offense moved the chains just one time. Even after Texas quarterback Arch Manning gifted the ball back to the Tigers on a long interception to cornerback DJ Pickett, Kiffin and coordinator Charlie Weis Jr.’s offense did not take advantage.
The typically unfazed Kiffin-Weis offense was uncharacteristically gun shy.
“If you’re throwing three interceptions, are you really going to keep trying to force the ball downfield or be a little conservative when your defense plays really well?” Kiffin said.
Leavitt finished the fourth quarter with two completions on five passes for 13 yards. On the game, he was 27-of-37 for 244 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. The run game was not much better in crunch time. In the fourth quarter, LSU ran the ball eight times for 9 yards, seven of which came on a Dilin Jones hand-off on third-and-six.
“There’s a little bit of conservativeness in there on purpose because we are playing to our defense, and the game plan really kind of was, okay, It may go like that when we get the lead,” Kiffin said. “Let’s lean on our defense.”
The defense gave up the final 58-yard touchdown drive to allow the Longhorns to take the lead with three seconds left. They had their opportunities to close out the game as well, but the offense forced them into similar do-or-die situations on three different occasions in the final 11 minutes. While the “Bayou Bengals” created a clutch turnover and a three-and-out the first two times they were leaned on, the offense did nothing to effectively reward their efforts. Eventually, it was their turn to flounder in a big moment.
Kiffin’s original comment about his coaching staff’s aggressive play calling being the reason for his pilgrimage to the cathedral of college football was in reference to a gutsy fourth-and-one decision against Texas A&M to lob a pass to wide receiver Jackson Harris for a 57-yard touchdown. It was a turning point in the game against the Aggies and set up a win that, at the time, made a statement about the new-look Tigers under Lane Kiffin.
Kiffin was not faced with a realistic crucial fourth down call like that one late in the loss to the Longhorns. That decision was made for him by LSU’s passive play calling and offensive meltdown in the final quarter.
“Let’s not reach out and try too much, and play to our defense,” Kiffin said of the plan in the final minutes. “That’s what we did, and almost worked, and they made a play at the end so it didn’t.”
Grant Chadwick punted on LSU’s final four offensive possessions. Kiffin and Weis punted on the 15 other plays.
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