It’s part of LSU football lore.
As the Tigers line up for the opening kick off against that week’s opponent, PA announcer Dan Borné’s voice erupts throughout Death Valley, declaring the chance of rain in Tiger Stadium: never.
Those words once again echoed through the stadium Saturday night as LSU opened up Southeastern Conference play against division rival Auburn, but this time they rang out amid a torrential downpour soaking all who braved the elements.
Just don’t tell that to LSU coach Les Miles.
With his jacket still wet after the game, Miles denied it ever rained during the game, but did acknowledge some slight weather rolling through the area at the time.
“It would be far for me to say it ever rains on Saturday night in Tiger Stadium,” Miles said. “But it was very close to rain, if not a very stiff dew out there.”
Despite what Miles might claim after the fact, the rain did come down during the first half of Saturday night’s 35-21 victory for LSU.
The field at Tiger Stadium was drenched as splashes of water shot up with each pounding step from the hulking athletes battling for conference bragging rights.
It was messy, it was wet, it was dirty and LSU junior defensive end Jordan Allen loved every second of it.
“To me, that depicts the image of a rough SEC play game,” Allen said, his long mane of hair still wet with rainwater and sweat. “If you were to take a snapshot of us lining up against Auburn and the rain coming down and the ground torn up and everybody is covered in mud — that’s football to me.”
Allen went as far as to say he thinks he plays better in the rain. The West Monroe native only produced two tackles and a sack against Auburn, but the LSU defense looked solid during the first half as it shut out Auburn and limited the productivity of coach Gus Malzahn’s up-tempo offense.
Senior linebacker Lamin Barrow led the team with 11 tackles and a fumble recovery against Auburn, but didn’t quite agree with Allen’s view of playing in the rain. Barrow said the rain didn’t necessarily hurt his unit, but it didn’t make things any easier.
“I would prefer the field to be dry because you’re much faster and you stick a lot more plays,” Barrow said. “We missed a lot of tackles — not really due to the rain, but just from it being slippery out there. If it would’ve been dry, we could have put on an even better performance.”
The LSU offense had its own set of problems as the rain fell on its revamped passing attack.
Senior quarterback Zach Mettenberger said LSU practices for inclement weather and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron preaches being a weather-proof offense. Mettenberger threw for a season-low 229 yards and a touchdown Saturday.
Conditions weren’t much better for either team’s receivers during the game. Early in the first quarter, Auburn wide receiver Jaylon Denson appeared to slip on a wide-open pass near the LSU 20-yard line and was subsequently carted off the field from an apparent left leg injury.
Auburn officials later reported Denson took X-rays at the stadium, but there was no official word of the results.
LSU junior wide outs Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. had struggles of their own during the game.
“I don’t know how it may have looked, but it was pretty bad — it was challenging,” Landry said. “For guys like me and Odell who rarely catch the ball with our body, it was just kind of different letting the ball get up on us trying to make catches.”
Despite the added difficulty of the weather, Landry still posted 118 yards and a touchdown, while Beckham chipped in another 59 yards on five receptions. But more than that, Landry said he just had fun playing football in the rain.
“Early on in pregame, I kind of thought about it and I felt like a little kid again. Just having a chance to play in the rain and sliding everywhere,” Landry said.