Stingy LSU survives Auburn, 23-20, to enter bye week undefeated 8-0
The script wasn't altogether unfamiliar.
No. 2 LSU (8-0, 4-0) and No. 9 Auburn (6-2, 3-2) met Saturday for a highly anticipated matchup on a chilly, cloudy afternoon.
The SEC West rivals traded leads for much of a chippy affair highlighted by the defenses and some controversial officiating.
And for the 10th straight time in Baton Rouge, the home Tigers survived, 23-20, to send their counterparts back to Alabama with an additional loss.
"We showed toughness today," senior quarterback Joe Burrow said. "It wasn't pretty by any means, but SEC games aren't going to be pretty. When you come out with a win and still feel you could have played better, it's a pretty good thing."
LSU held Auburn to 287 yards and 16 first downs, including four straight three-and-outs in the second half — much of which came on 41- and 70-yard runs in the second and third quarters and a 34-yard pass in the fourth on possessions that netted a combined three points.
Freshman quarterback Bo Nix completed just 15 of his 35 passes for 157 yards and one interception by freshman cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. and was sacked three times by linebackers Michael Divinity Jr., Jacob Phillips and Damone Clark.
And, eventually, senior quarterback Joe Burrow and the LSU offense put together back-to-back touchdown drives to end the third quarter and begin the fourth to help put Auburn away.
"I think a lesser team would not have won that game," LSU coach Ed Orgeron said. "(Auburn) came to play. Adversity hit us. We weren't playing very well in the first half. They got up, but our guys kept on fighting.
"You should have seen this locker room. They were calm in this locker room. There was confidence, and we felt like we were going to win the game. Joe felt he was going to win the game, and we did."
Clyde Edwards-Helaire and the offensive line did the heavy lifting on the go-ahead possession.
The junior running back rushed four times for 45 yards to turn a 13-10 deficit into a 16-13 lead.
Burrow, wide receiver Justin Jefferson and tight end Thaddeus Moss got involved the next time out, cashing an 11-play, 67-yard drive into a 7-yard run by Burrow up the middle and into the end zone to stretch the margin to 23-13.
The senior quarterback finished with career highs of 32 completions and 42 attempts (76.2 percent) with 321 yards, one touchdown and one interception to lead a 508-yard team effort.
"They came out in a defense that we haven't seen from them or anyone else this season," Burrow said. "It took us a while to get used to what they were doing and figure out how to attack it in the second half. We got that run game going."
Edwards-Helaire compiled a career-high 187 total yards, rushing a career-high 26 times for a season-best 136 yards and catching a career-high seven passes for another career-high 51 receiving yards.
Sophomore wide receiver Ja'Marr chase led all players with eight catches for 123 yards, and Jefferson and Moss each added seven receptions for 60 yards and 45 yards, respectively.
Nix and company scored again on a 5-yard connection with Seth Williams with 2:32 remaining to pull back to within 23-20, but Auburn couldn't recover with the onside kick to give itself another chance to complete the comeback attempt.
"Third down and 10-plus, I think we had nine of them," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "Anytime you have that, you aren't going to convert very many of them. A lot of false starts, which I'm disappointed in. With that, we had the same thing in the Florida game with four false starts in the first half.
"You can't get behind the chains against a good team on the road. We talked about that, and I thought we would do better. But we didn't. Like I said, I'm running this offense, so that's on me. It was loud and all that, but that shouldn't matter."
Auburn capitalized on good field position early to hand LSU just its fifth deficit of the season with a 30-yard Anders Carlson field goal.
And for the first time this season, Burrow and the offense were not able to immediately march downfield for a game-tying or go-ahead touchdown.
Auburn delayed that answer until early in the second quarter when Terrace Marshall Jr. hauled in a 20-yard touchdown to provide LSU a 7-3 lead in his first game back from injury.
But Nix and the visiting Tigers took advantage of good starting field position again, turning a fumbled punt into a 22-yard drive and fourth-down quarterback sneak into the end zone.
LSU appeared to respond with a trademark march.
But the Auburn defense held up at the goal line to force its hosts to settle for a 20-yard Cade York field goal to tie the game at 10-10 in the final minute of the half.
A 70-yard D.J. Williams scamper set up a 23-yard Carlson field goal for a 13-10 advantage.
"This wasn't the prettiest game," Orgeron said. "We had too many penalties — 12 penalties — especially on special teams. We did not play very well on special teams. The turnovers were very costly. When they went up, 13-10, our defense forced six punts.