It definitely didn’t earn any style points.
But it was necessary.
The LSU football team waltzed into Jordan-Hare Stadium unchallenged and unscathed. It left Auburn, Ala., with a sloppy 12-10 victory against an Auburn team that had been anything but impressive its first three games.
The LSU players realized they’re human. They’re vulnerable.
More importantly, if LSU plays that poorly against a quality opponent, it will lose.
The Auburn-versus-LSU game is always a knockdown, drag-out street brawl, no matter the venue. It’s just hard to look at the Tigers after their effort Saturday night and say they are the nation’s second-best team.
Hopefully the competitive nature of the game, something the Tigers haven’t experienced all season, is a blessing in disguise.
Ugly or not, LSU needed to have a wakeup call if it plans on taking its talents to South Beach.
No one put that into perspective better than junior linebacker Luke Muncie.
“It shows us that we need to be humble and continue to improve,” Muncie said. “We’re not going to be good enough to go to the National Championship until that time comes.”
He’s right.
All night the Tigers looked like they were waiting around for Tyrann Mathieu to run out of the tunnel and make a play to put the game out of reach.
It never happened.
If not for LSU’s dominant defensive effort, particularly defensive end Sam Montgomery’s best game in a purple and gold jersey, the Tigers might have returned to Baton Rouge with a loss.
The Tigers held Auburn to a mere 183 yards. However, because of miscues and penalties, they weren’t able to pull away.
LSU’s offense put together a methodical, smash-mouth drive its first possession, only to give Auburn the ball on its three-yard line after a mishandled snap by quarterback Zach Mettenberger.
Luckily for Mettenberger, Montgomery bailed him out on the next play by inhaling Auburn running back Tre Mason in the end zone for a safety.
The luxury of playing against North Texas and Idaho has caught up with Mettenberger. He might be the one Tiger who needs to snap back to reality the most.
Not only did he give the ball away twice, but his second fumble was a case of him trying to do too much. Instead of going down and taking the sack, he didn’t protect the ball and Auburn punched it out.
Trying to win games by holding onto the ball and attempting to make something out of nothing is never a recipe for success. Let’s hope Mettenberger learned that after Saturday’s contest.
Had it not been for the turnover in LSU territory, Auburn wouldn’t have even sniffed the end zone. The Auburn offense was that bad.
Costly penalties on offense also stalled promising drives that would have put points on the board.
Forget about all the miscues, turnovers and penalties. LSU will be fine escaping the plains with a win.
But this is the Tigers’ only mulligan.
Another lackluster performance on the road in the Southeastern Conference won’t have a result LSU will be satisfied with, especially when the Tigers take on a much-improved Florida team in The Swamp next Saturday.
If this team has shown anything, it’s that it welcomes adversity. It makes it play better.
Micah Bedard is a 22-year-old history senior from Houma.
LSU head coach Les Miles clowns around before the Tigers' 12-10 victory over Auburn on Saturday Sept. 22, 2012 in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
