Tyler Drops The Bomb On Auburn

This year LSU had the senior quarterback who was making the big plays when it counted. That was the difference as the seventh-ranked Bayou Bengals escaped Jordan-Hare Stadium with a very hard fought 31-19 SEC victory.

Senior LSU QB Herb Tyler

Auburn's hopes of an upset were exploded by too much T and T. Tyler, as in LSU QB Herb Tyler, did the offensive damage by completing 16-20 passes for three touchdowns and 174 yards without an interception. Auburn matched LSU in total yardage at 306, but the LSU defense came up with four turnovers and the visitors cashed those miscues into 19 points.

Auburn held the vaunted LSU rushing attack to 132 yards on 42 carries, but Tyler made up for that by making big play after big play as a passer and runner. Several of his best plays were scrambles to get away from big pass rushes and convert third downs into drive-saving gains. Last year in Baton Rouge, LSU had no answer for Dameyune Craig, but unfortunately for the Tigers, he was watching the action from the sidelines as a spectator.

Craig's understudy from last year, Ben Leard, had a hot and cold performance. After throwing his first pass to an LSU defensive back, Leard did little wrong the first half as he hit 16-22 passes for 221 yards, including touchdowns to Heath Evans (54 yards) and Karsten Bailey (10 yards). In the second half, a blitzing LSU defense forced him into bad plays. The sophomore QB took 50 yards in losses on sacks.

The first two Auburn turnovers on the first two offensive plays of the night for the home team led to a pair of LSU touchdowns and a 13-0 lead after Auburn blocked the second PAT. Clarence LeBlanc raced 21-yards with the interception to start the scoring less than three minutes into the game. Less than six minutes into the game, Tyler ran five yards on a QB draw for the next score.

Auburn responded by driving 80-yards on six plays. Evans, who played so well against Ole Miss, was untouched on his 54-yard TD play but he broke an ankle a few minutes later and is scheduled for surgery on Sunday. He is be lost for the season.

LSU stretched the lead to 19-7 with an 80-yard drive of its own to finish the first quarter. Tyler's scramble away from a pass rush bought time for him to find Kevin Faulk for a 19-yard TD play. Auburn did a solid job defending the Heisman Trophy candidate, who netted 88 yards on 21 carries.

Sophomore split end Clifton Robinson, who had nine catches for 130 yards, is the Inside the Auburn Tigers Player of the Game. Robinson's previous highs came against Virginia in game one when he caught four passes for 86 yards. Robinson, like the entire Auburn offense, did most of his damage in the first half when he caught six passes for 91 yards.

Back to back good defensive plays by Jayson Bray and Brad Ware set he stage for Auburn's second TD drive. Auburn moved 75 yards on seven plays with the big one a diving 37-yard catch by Clifton Robinson on a slightly overthrown bomb. Robinson had a huge game with nine catches for 130 yards.

On the next play, a middle screen to tight end Jack Schwieger picked up 15 yards, putting Auburn in business just outside the 10-yard line. Two plays later, from the shotgun, Leard lofted a TD pass to uncovered Karsten Bailey, who was one of the three receivers lined up on the left side of the formation. That made the score 19-14 with 5:25 left before halftime.

Auburn cut the gap to 19-17 as Robert Bironas nailed a 29-yard field goal on the final play of the half as the Tigers drove 70 yards on nine plays. The only disappointment was that the Tigers never got a chance to throw the ball into the end zone in the closing seconds because with 25 seconds left they had to burn their final timeout to beat a delay of game call.

In the second half, LSU turned up the defensive pressure with some blitzing and won the battle of field position with a better punting game. However, the score that put the nail in Auburn's coffin was set up by Auburn's fourth and final turnover of the night on Leard's third interception. When Tyler lobbed a six-yard TD pass to his tight end, Kyle Kipps, with 5:27 left that put LSU up 31-19 and was too much for Auburn to overcome.

Prior to that LSU held a shaky 25-19 lead after scoring with 28 seconds left in the third quarter on a 29-yard Tyler to Larry Foster pass for the first points of the second half. However, Charles Dorsey blocked the PAT and Brad Ware picked it up and ran for a two-point conversion for what turned out to be Auburn's only second half points.

"You have to give LSU a lot of credit," said Auburn senior cornerback Jayson Bray. "They played very well and Herb Tyler really stepped up with a big game."

Terry Bowden said LSU's different defensive looks in the second half that gave the Auburn offense trouble were big as his team failed to score a touchdown in the final two quarters. LSU coach Gerry DiNardo said, "Standing on the sidelines, I really admired both teams. It was a typical Auburn-LSU game and both teams played hard. We made a lot of mistakes that I think are correctable, but we did more good things than bad."

Auburn, now 1-2 overall and 1-1 in the SEC, will have two weeks of preparation time before taking the field again to face Tennessee. LSU will face Idaho next Saturday.