LSU overcomes Auburn, difficult start for 21-17 SEC road victory

LSU fell behind three scores on the road in SEC play Saturday in a game that started with a player being carted off to the hospital and ended with its starting quarterback unable to return to the field.

And the Tigers (4-1, 2-0) overcame every challenge in their way and host Auburn (3-2, 1-1) for a 21-17 victory, their fourth straight and the first road conference win under coach Brian Kelly.

"An exciting win for our guys," Kelly said. "Certainly coming back from a 17-0 deficit on the road is not where you want to be, but we found a way. It's been the DNA of this group to battle, to fight and they certainly did that tonight. They found a way to win.

"And, look, at the end of the day, there's an old saying in golf: 'There's no pictures on the scorecard.' There's just what you score. And tonight there's no pictures on the scoreboard for us. We just found a way to win this game, and that's really what you're trying to do in the SEC West."

A strip-sack by junior defensive end B.J. Ojulari in the second quarter helped spark the comeback, as senior defensive back Jay Ward scooped the loose ball off the bounce and dashed 23 yards to the team's first points.

Junior quarterback Jayden Daniels and junior running back John Emery Jr. helped lead a 77-yard drive later in the quarter, capped by a goal-line run by Daniels to pull back within 17-14 at the break.

And Emery added the highlight-reel, 20-yard go-ahead score in the third quarter, as the defense shut out its hosts for the final 39:38 of the contest.

Daniels completed eight of his 20 passes (40.0%) for 80 yards on an off-rhythm passing night before having to exit late, but rushed 16 times for another 59 yards and the score.

"He could've went (back in)," Kelly said. "He's just a dual-threat quarterback who was a bit limited — bursar sac, knee, no structural damage, nothing structural. He was in pain. We'll have him back. We're not concerned with it, but he was really sore and he was limping around. I didn't like the way he was moving around out there, so I took him out."

Junior running back Joshua Williams led all players with 68 rushing yards on 17 attempts, and Emery added 42 on eight attempts and a 39-yard reception.

The Ojulari-Ward takeaway was the first of four by LSU during another impressive defensive showing once the unit settled in after some early miscues.

Freshman linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. intercepted a pass inside the 10-yard line early in the fourth quarter to extinguish Auburn's best scoring opportunity the rest of the way.

Senior cornerback Jarrick Bernard-Converse grabbed a muffed punt three minutes later to help the Tigers eat more clock.

And senior cornerback Greg Brooks Jr. closed like a missile on a late pass to Auburn receiver Koy Moore to snatch away another interception and help seal away the win.

"We talked about that at halftime," Kelly said of the Brooks play. "They had been in a very similar formation earlier, and we went to a robber coverage. We had been playing a lot of quarter coverage on that down. And we went to robber coverage. He was the robber.

"And (defensive coordinator) Matt (House) said to me, 'He's gonna steal this one. He's gonna steal it.' Because he had seen the route before, and it was just a little late. And he was sitting on it, and he in fact stole it. He got the game ball."

A difficult start — on multiple levels — put LSU quickly into a 17-point hole.

Seconds into the contest, senior defensive back Sevyn Banks had to be carted from the field following a scary collision on the opening kickoff.

"Sevyn Banks obviously suffered a neck injury, but he is with us and he will travel back with the team, "Kelly said. "We're very encouraged. He'll get some more testing, but the cervical exam came back clean. So we're very encouraged by the news."

And Auburn took advantage of a series of busted coverages early in the game to look its most productive yet this season.

Reserve quarterback Robby Ashford, filling in for an injured T.J. Finley, completed six passes of 18 yards or more in the first half, including 53- and 18-yard touchdowns to Ja'Varrius Johnson and Camden Brown.

The former did most of the heavy lifting in a 69-yard drive in the first quarter, and the latter capped a 99-yard march to stretch the lead to 14-0 early in the second.

Anders Carlson extended that margin to 17-0 with a 29-yard field goal with just under 10 minutes to play in the half.

"We let the quarterback out," Kelly said. "He scrambled. We were not good on the back end. We broke down onto some coverages, so we cleaned some things up in communication. We did some things that we hadn't done. We were cutting some crossers and doing some things that were just not fundamentally a part of our package."

But LSU began taking over from there.

Ashford went 12-for-20 (60.0%) for 247 yards and two score in the first half before finished 7-for-18 (38.9%) for 90 yards and an interception the rest of the way.

Johnson caught three passes for 74 yards, and Moore finished with four receptions for 55 yards.

Junior running back Tank Bigsby led the Auburn rushing attack with 45 yards on 12 attempts.

"It's tough competition going on the road," Kelly said. "It's a tough crowd that you have to try to overcome. Was that our best performance? I hope not. But it was gutty, it was gritty and it was one that I'm proud of our guys and the way that they hung in there after being down 17-0.

"So, as I told our guys, that's a culture win. That's a program win where you're doing things the right way to win a game like that."