As “Sandstorm” blared from the speakers at Tiger Stadium, the moment of truth arrived.
LSU was clinging to a five-point lead as Texas lined up at the Tigers’ 11 with just 19 seconds left. The whole of the stadium, aside from many burnt orange swaths, were roaring as loud as they could as the Longhorns lurched toward the goal line.
But in an instant, LSU’s College Football Playoff hopes were blown away like sand.
On second-and-goal from the LSU 4 and six seconds left, Arch Manning swung a pass out to running back Raleek Brown, who outflanked the Tigers defense and beat linebacker Davhon Keys to the corner of the end zone to score the game-winning touchdown in a 22-21 win over LSU. There was no recovery to be had for the Tigers.
A year removed from firing Brian Kelly with a 5-3 record, new LSU coach Lane Kiffin and the CFP-ranked No. 21 Tigers (6-4, 3-4 SEC) picked up a fourth loss with road trips to Tennessee and Arkansas still on the schedule.
A game that had so much going in LSU’s favor, including a 21-10 lead well into the third quarter, slipped away brutally fast.
“In a lot of areas of the game, you’d say, man, we outplayed them to win the game,” Kiffin said. “But, again, that’s not how it works. It doesn’t work that way.”
In a contest between quarterbacks who have had issues taking care of the ball, LSU signal-caller Sam Leavitt outpaced Manning with two interceptions in the first half. But the Longhorns didn’t score on either of Leavitt’s errors.
LSU, on the other hand, cashed in on Manning’s first mistake.
LSU safety Ty Benefield helped in both aspects. His first pick of Manning came shortly after Leavitt was nabbed by Texas defensive back Jelani McDonald in the second quarter. Leavitt tried to toss one up for the 6-foot-7 Trey’Dez Green, who had taken a spill in the end zone.
A drive that flipped the field from the LSU 12 to the Texas 12 resulted in no points, continuing the Tigers’ red-zone woes after both teams scored on their opening possessions.
But the LSU defense, which held Texas to a three-and-out after Leavitt’s first pick, came up big again.
Manning was pressured by Jordan Ross, and Benefield broke quickly on the errant pass. He sped all the way to the Texas 7, which — even after a 2-yard loss for Leavitt on first-and-goal — set up a 9-yard toss to Jackson Harris over the middle.
Harris, with a Longhorns defender on his back, laid out for Leavitt’s pass in the end zone to make it 14-7.
LSU lost some momentum down the stretch of the first half as Texas hit a 42-yard field goal to narrow the lead, and Tigers kicker Scott Starzyk missed a 38-yard attempt wide right with time expiring in the first half.
“This really hurt,” Benefield said after a game that could have been celebratory. “This really hurt my guys, too.”
The interception contest between Benefield and McDonald continued into the second half. McDonald picked off Leavitt a third time on LSU’s opening drive, but Benefield quickly answered. This time, Manning was pressured by Princewill Umanmielen, and Benefield snared a ball meant for Texas wideout Ryan Wingo up the sideline.
Not long after, LSU running back Dilin Jones broke a run up the visitor’s sideline, running free for 34 yards before he ducked inside at the Texas 10 to put a shoulder into defensive back Kobe Black. Another Longhorn defender lost his feet, sliding out of bounds, as Jones shuffled across the goal line for a 44-yard touchdown run.
Jones, who finished with 125 yards rushing on 19 carries, was more focused on missed opportunities postgame.
“For sure, I say I left some points out there, different things I could have done in the run game to help us come out with the win,” Jones said.
Unlike the prior week’s loss to Alabama, LSU played frontrunners most of the night. The Tigers even extended their advantage to two scores at 21-10.
That was seemingly pivotal as Texas cut it back to eight points with another field goal late in the third quarter, and it was 21-16 early in the fourth after a Texas drive stalled out for a 50-yard field goal.
But LSU punted on four straight possessions in the fourth quarter, putting it squarely on the Tigers defense to secure the victory.
Texas took over from its own 42 with just over two minutes remaining, picking up a first down on its first set of downs. Just as the Longhorns (8-2, 5-2) ventured across midfield, Manning was sacked by Ross.
But he overcame a second-and-16 with a 13-yard pass and a 4-yard scramble. He then hit Wingo on passes of 19 and 5 yards, getting all the way down to the LSU 11. The Tigers, ultimately, couldn’t keep the Longhorns out of the end zone.
“I thought maybe it would kind of be like this, where let’s not reach out and try too much and play to our defense. And so that’s what we did,” Kiffin said, acknowledging some conservatism offensively late in the game. “It almost worked. And made a play at the end, so it didn’t.”
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