Let the Valley Shake

Tigers Upset Buckeyes in Death Valley

Baton Rouge, LA - Fans packed Nicholson Dr in Baton Rouge, and Bourbon St in New Orleans until the wee hours of the morning as the LSU Tigers held on for a dramatic 27-24 victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes Saturday night.

Coming out in their "White Tiger" uniforms for the second straight game this season, LSU took the opening kickoff and drove the field to the 14 yard line for a 31 yard Josh Jasper FG. On the following drive, on the Buckeyes' first play from scrimmage, JUCO Transfer and LSU Sophomore LB Alex Harrison intercepted a Kenny Guiton pass to set up another Josh Jasper field goal, this time from 20 yards.

Ohio State answered shortly after the change of the quarter. A fourth down conversion early in the drive allowed Devin Barclay to punch a 50 yard field goal through the uprights, and cut the lead in half. Ohio State mounted a drive to answer, however, Harrison leaped and pulled in another Guiton pass for an interception. LSU followed with the "StuBucksman TM" score right before halftime when HB Spencer Ware knifed through the line for a touchdown run with 17 seconds remaining in the half. Ohio State got as far as the LSU 40 yard line on the following drive, however, Guiton was sacked, and a last ditch pass fell short in the endzone, giving LSU a 13-3 lead at the half.

The third quarter would belong to the Buckeyes. Guiton engineered a long drive coming out of the locker room, and connected with WR Duron Carter for a 21-yard touchdown pass with 4:31 to go in the 3rd. The LSU 13-10 lead was short-lived as Buckeye LB Jordan Whiting intercepted a Cameron Treangen pass and took it into the endzone to give Ohio State the lead.

Coach cjohnchavis huddled his team on the sideline and screamed for them asking for "physicality." "I had seen this look in my team's eyes before. I saw it in Tuscaloosa, I saw it in Columbus. I wasn't going to let them fold in the face of adversity again." said cjohnchavis. Treangen led the Tigers on a long scoring drive behind big runs by Shannon Scott and Spencer Ware. "Our guys up front, really started to take over, they set the tone. And Shannon and Spencer just ran plain hard" said Treangen. Treagen was noticeably animated when he connected with freshman wideout Bryan Abrams on a 3rd down pass. Ware finished the drive with another 4 yard touchdown run to give the Tiger the 20-17 lead.

Ohio State looked poised to answer. A long drive took the game into the 4th quarter on the strength of big plays from Guiton and a fourth down conversion. Guiton picked up chunks of yards scrambling to his left and finding receivers open along the sideline. "We had a good plan for him, confused him a little bit, but he really stressed our defense with his scrambling" said Tiger Defensive Coordinator Johnny Chavis.

Early in the 4th quarter, down 20-17, the Buckeyes drove inside the LSU 20 yard line twice before committing two devastating turnovers. On one, LSU DE Chancey Aghayere hit Guiton as he released the ball and LSU LB Alex Harrison alertly scooped it out of midair.

That momentum proved to be short lived for LSU. Ohio State was the beneficiary of a Cameron Treangen fumble inside Tiger territory, and once again, the Buckeyes had the ball, down 20-17 early in the 4th quarter. The Buckeyes drove inside the LSU 15 yard line again before yet another critcal mistake by Kenny Guiton. A Guiton pass was tipped by Anthony "Freak" Johnson, and fell into the waiting arms of Alex Harrison. It was the Sophomore's third interception of the day, and swung momentum back in favor of the Tigers.

Spencer Ware takes one to the house, which proved to be the game winning TD for LSU.

LSU RB Spencer Ware rode that momentum, and a pair of broken tackles, all the way into the endzone two plays later. The 72 yard touchdown run put LSU up 27-17 with 3:59 to play.

Eric Reid's leaping INT summed up the day for

With nearly 4 minutes left to play, the Buckeyes weren't giving up. They drove back inside the LSU redzone before yet another deadly decision by the usually reliable Kenny Guiton. This time, a leaping Eric Reid (LSU nickleback) picked off the errant Guiton pass at the 5 yard line, and for the third time in the 4th quarter, the Buckeyes were held scoreless after driving inside the red zone. Momentum, back to LSU!






Ohio State was able to make things interesting. They forced an LSU punt, and with less than 2 minutes remaining, Guiton led the Buckeyes down the field, finally connecting on a touchdown pass to TE Jake Stoneburner with 1:28 to play. LSU led 27-24, and the nervous crowd awaited the onside kick.

The Onside kick was recovered by the Tigers, and the clock struck zero following two Spencer Ware runs, setting off a wild scene in Tiger stadium. The Student section poured onto the field causing a fence to collapse in the corner of the endzone. Fans surrounded the cage of Mikey, a white tiger on loan from the Sigfried and Roy show. Goalposts were carried down Nicholson Dr and an impromptu pep rally and bon fire started in the empty field in front of Walk-Ons. Many fans remained until morning, some sleeping on abandoned tailgating couches.