LSU leaves door open, loses to Auburn late, 24-19, to end home streak

LSU had one opportunity after another to blow Saturday's game open and slam the barn door on visiting Auburn once again.

Instead, each slipped away, like quarterback Bo Nix had, one too many times.

And Auburn upended LSU in Tiger Stadium, 24-19, for the first time since 1999.

"Very disappointing loss," LSU coach Ed Orgeron said. "I thought our guys fought very hard. But we couldn't capitalize on some opportunities, especially in the red zone, and had to settle for field goals. The quarterback, couldn't get him down. He made some tremendous plays. But that was the ball game.

"We couldn't run the football, didn't block well up front and didn't tackle the quarterback."

Auburn's junior quarterback and his teammates finally snatched its first lead with 3:11 remaining on their second touchdown of the fourth quarter.

Nix pulled his own Tigers back within 19-17 with a 5-yard run and dive to the goal line in the first minute of the fourth and its extra point.

And after a couple three-and-outs, freshman running back Jarquez Hunter stung the LSU defense for Auburn's biggest play of the day, a 44-yarder up the left sideline to the 22.

Nix pulled off one of his seven third-down conversions two plays later, finding senior Shaun Shivers down to the 9.

And Hunter finished the job with another two runs to suddenly flip the script in Baton Rouge.

"Tonight, I didn't really know how it was gonna go," said Nix, who had been benched the previous week for sophomore T.J. Finley, the transfer from LSU. "But I knew I wanted to come in here focused and just compete like crazy and just do whatever it took to win the game.

"And, you know, we battled and, as a team, I felt like we competed and did whatever it took to win the game. And finally at the end, we took the lead, and it paid off."

Nix completed 23 of his 44 passes for 255 yards and one touchdown and rushed 12 times for 74 yards and another score.

LSU's last shots at salvaging the night sailed away like those to better secure it had before.

An eventual third-and-6 looked briefly like a long-awaited spark, before a 22-yard gain from Max Johnson to Kayshon Boutte was overturned to a drop after an official review.

And Johnson ran to his right from Auburn's defense, looking for more time and an open target, but finding only Auburn safety Bydarrius Knighten for the game's first turnover.

"He's under pressure a lot," Orgeron said. "And I think when you're under pressure, it's hard to stay in the pocket. And then when you're scrambling, you've gotta make some great throws. And tonight, he just didn't."

Neither a holding penalty or a 22-yard loss on a fumbled snap could stop LSU from marching 91 yards in eight plays to the end zone on its first possession.

On a second-and-goal from the 31 following the miscues, Johnson and Boutte connected on a highlight-reel strike in double coverage.

Johnson completed all six of his passes for 122 yards, including three balls to Boutte for 99 yards on the opening drive alone.

But LSU could never match the same success despite once opportunity after another to do so.

Instead, drives stalled at — or even regressed from — the 17- and 3-yard-lines in the second quarter and 5 and 21 in the third.

And kicker Cade York had to keep inching the margin ahead with field goals of 33, 26, 22 and 51 yards.

Johnson finished 26-for-46 for 325 yards, and Boutte led all players with 127 yards on six catches

Freshman receiver Jack Bech added career-highs of seven receptions for 84 yards.

"I think we just need to pick up some tempo, we've gotta figure out our run game," Johnson said. "And other than that, we've just gotta figure out a way to win. We've gotta score touchdowns instead of field goals."

The first pair moved the LSU lead to 13-0, as its defense continued to shut down its guests and harass quarterbacks Nix and T.J. Finley, who made a brief appearance.

But Auburn finally began mounting an answer midway through the second quarter.

Nix, once again scrambling under pressure, heaved a fourth-down throw toward the end zone to find tight end Tyler Fromm behind the defense in the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown.

"We couldn't tackle Bo Nix," senior linebacker Damone Clark said. "That's the biggest thing. We had him where we wanted him. We were doing the things we were supposed to do on first and second down... and then we just didn't come through. Way too many missed tackles."

The conversion punctuated a 10-play, 75-yard drive and cut the margin to 13-7 with 4:53 remaining in the half.

And after Auburn's defense forced a quick LSU punt, Nix and company were right back to work for a 62-yard drive and 49-yard Anders Carlson field goal for a 13-10 score at the midway mark.

York's third and fourth field goals widened the gap back to 19-10 through three quarters.

But LSU could never quite complete another drive or put the other Tigers away.

And the fourth quarter belonged to Auburn.

"You know, we've been there before," Orgeron said. "They're hurt. We've gotta look at it. I told 'em, ' We've just gotta take accountability. We've gotta coach you better, but there's sometimes when we've gotta play better.'"