Auburn had the ball:
Auburn called a bizarre timeout to set up a really bold fourth-down try against LSU. It didn’t work.
This might not have cost Auburn the game, but it sure didn’t help.
Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images
- down 24-23
- with 1:49 to go
- on fourth-and-10.
Auburn called a timeout. That left Auburn with two timeouts. Auburn then went for it on fourth down. LSU got the stop.
LSU got the ball back in field-goal position, wound the clock down to 38 seconds as Auburn spent its final timeouts, and LSU took a 27-23 lead with a field goal.
This was a weird batch of decisions by Gus Malzahn.
Though Auburn got the ball back with a chance to score the winning touchdown, that free field goal for LSU meant Auburn’s game-winning drive would’ve needed to travel even farther. But it’s OK to take a gamble. It almost worked!
That timeout is the thing that’ll bother Auburn fans for a long time. Auburn could’ve prevented LSU from killing so much clock. Having 38 seconds to go the entirety of the field at Death Valley is one thing, but doing it without any timeouts is another level. Auburn reached another fourth-and-10, and Auburn QB Jarrett Stidham went down in the backfield.
Auburn was further dinged by the clock at LSU not stopping after a first down, which cost about five seconds but probably did not cost Auburn the game.
This is one of the country’s weirdest rivalries, every single year.
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