It’s a script the LSU defense knew all too well.
Keeping the opponent out of the end zone in the fourth quarter had been a problem for it all season. What do LSU’s tussles against Alabama, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Florida and Towson all have in common?
The Tigers allowed a fourth quarter touchdown in every one of those games. Towson punched it in twice in the final period when it visited Tiger Stadium Sept. 29.
Call it a lack of focus or a fatigue issue. Whatever it was, it needed to be fixed.
Allowing Alabama to march down the field in 43 seconds with relative ease to stun the Tiger Stadium faithful did not sit well with the members of the LSU defense. Maybe it was exactly the spark they needed to realize the fourth quarter should be a period they dominate.
“I think ’Bama just struck a match,” said LSU defensive end Sam Montgomery after the Tigers 37-17 win. “Once we lit [it], now we just want to keep it going and get back to those old times how we used to be last year.”
During the 2011 regular season, LSU gave up a fourth quarter touchdown in only three of its thirteen games. The punishment for opposing offenses didn’t stop until the LSU defense decided it was over.
Saturday Night in Death Valley looked a lot like last season.
The Tigers built a 30-17 lead late in the third quarter when junior fullback J.C. Copeland bulldozed into the end zone from a yard out. It should have been the moment when I sat back and watched LSU power to victory.
Instead, I couldn’t help think in the back of my mind about how well the opposition has driven the ball against LSU in the final 15 minutes of games.
Thankfully, Montgomery, junior defensive end Barkevious Mingo and junior safety Craig Loston made me forget all about a Mississippi State comeback.
LSU’s defense gave up 164 fourth-quarter yards. It wasn’t a perfect performance. It made plays when it needed to.
Bend but not break has never looked so good. Both visits inside the twenty for the Bulldogs didn’t turn out how they expected.
Mississippi State’s first red-zone attempt resulted in quarterback Tyler Russell being thrown to the turf by Montgomery on third down and Mingo did the same on fourth. The Bulldogs didn’t have anything to show for a once-promising 10-play, 67-yard drive.
Once Mississippi State started throwing heavily, it played right into the hands of two of the best pass-rushers in the country.
“We mixed up a little bit of the stunts and let [Mingo and Montgomery] do what they do,” junior linebacker Kevin Minter said. “There’s a reason why they’re the top defensive ends in the country.”
Then Loston put the nail in the coffin by picking off Russell at the goal line on the Bulldogs’ last red-zone trip and running it back 100 yards into the end zone to put the game away for good.
Who cares if there are only two games left on the Tigers’ 2012 slate? Discovering a defensive identity now is better than not finding one at all.
Montgomery, Mingo and the rest of the defense have bought into the old adage — it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.
“Just to put a cap on something to end it feels great as a team,” Montgomery said. “It means you’re coming full circle now. We used to be fighters, and now we’re finishers.”
No national championship aspirations, no problem. The fourth quarter alone shows me LSU wants to finish the season strong.
And that’s all you can ask for.
LSU freshman cornerback Jalen Collins (32) and teammate junior linebacker Kevin Minter (46) bring down MSU senior wide receiver Chris Smith (8) during the Tigers' 37-17 victory over the Bulldogs Saturday November 10, 2012 in Tiger Stadium.
