LSU rallies to upset Auburn
Ed Orgeron’s team erases a 20-point deficit, beats No. 10 team.
LOUISIANA STATE 27 NO. 10 AUBURN 23
BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana State coach Ed Orgeron didn’t want the game ball, turning down a chance to stick it in the faces of so many critics who think he is in over his head.
Across Tiger Stadium, Auburn fans clustered in the stands near the visitors locker room voiced their displeasure with coach Gus Malzahn, some yelling that he’s “got to go.”
Such is life in the Southeastern Conference.
D.J. Chark returned a punt 75 yards for a touchdown, Connor Culp kicked field goals of 42 and 36 yards inside the final three minutes, and Louisiana State erased a 20-point deficit on its way to a 27-23 victory over No. 10 Auburn on Saturday.
“We’re just becoming a football team. Our whole staff is galvanized. Our football team is galvanized,” Orgeron said. “We were going to be resilient. We weren’t going to give up. We were going to block out the noise and we were going to fix the things that were fixable.”
Louisiana State (5-2, 2-1 in SEC) did not give up any points in the second half and only 64 yards to rally against Auburn (5-2, 3-1).
Russell Gage made a diving 14-yard touchdown reception and had a 70-yard run that set up another touchdown in the first half, when Louisiana State closed to 23-14.
Kerryon Johnson rushed for 156 yards and a short touchdown for Auburn, which had won four consecutive games.
“This is an extremely tough loss from the standpoint that we got off to an extremely good start,” said Malzahn, whose team had won its previous three SEC games by 21 points or more.
Malzahn couldn’t recall Auburn losing such a big lead since becoming coach in 2013.
“The biggest thing was the punt return. That really broke our back,” he said. “We were in pretty good shape up to that point.”
Arden Key’s sack of Jarrett Stidham with two seconds left squelched Auburn’s last hope. Quarterback Danny Etling kneeled to end the game.
Orgeron shook hands with Malzahn and tossed the game ball to Etling after the quarterback tried to give it to the coach.
“It ain’t about me. It’s about them,” Orgeron said.