Tigers fall apart late and lose to Tennessee in OT

By Darrell Laurant  |   Tuesday, September 27, 2005  |  Comments( 0 )

College Football
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Already waterlogged by floods and buffeted by two hurricanes, Louisianans saw their beloved LSU Tigers blow a 21-0 lead and lose 30-24 to the visiting Tennessee Volunteers in overtime in Baton Rouge Monday night.

After Colt David had kicked a 31-yard field goal to put the third-ranked Tigers up 27-24 in the extra period, Volunteer RB Gerald Riggs Jr. got the ball on four of five plays -- three rushes and a pass from Rick Clausen -- before banging over from the one-yard line for the winning score.

LSU's first home game had been cancelled because of Hurricane Katrina, the second postponed to Monday because of Hurricane Rita. Before Monday night's kickoff, a moment of silence was observed for the hurricane victims, after which the PA announcer thundered: "We vow to move forward under a common flag, because this is LSU football, this is Tiger Stadium and this is Louisiana!"

Whereupon Les Miles' Tigers moved forward quickly, scoring on a 19-yard sprint by RB Joseph Addai, a short run from QB JaMarcus Russell and a 3-yard interception return by Kenneth Hollis.

Starting Tennessee Volunteers QB Erik Ainge not only offered up the ill-advised pass from his own end zone that wound up in the hands of Hollis, but he was slammed into the goal post on the play and had to leave the game. Enter Californian Clausen, who soon trimmed the LSU lead to 21-7 with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Bret Smith.

The LSU Tigers seemed to recover their equilibrium when Chris Jackson drilled a 42-yard field goal on the last play of the third quarter. The fourth period, however, was all orange. Clausen and Riggs -- son of the former NFL back -- scored on a pair of short runs, the Tennessee defense held repeatedly, and James Wilhoit's 28-yard field goal with two minutes remaining forced the overtime.

The Tigers won the toss and started the first extra period on offense, but had to settle for the David field goal. When it was Tennessee's turn, Riggs caught a 10-yard pass from Clausen to the 15, then knifed into the end zone four plays later.

This was a crucial game for 1the 10th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers, now 2-1, who had already lost to SEC rival Florida. The LSU Tigers fell to 1-1, 0-1 in league play.

Clausen finished with 197 yards passing, while Riggs had 89 on the ground. Russell threw for 158 yards and Addai ran for 84 in the losing cause.
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