Nearly 11 months ago, the LSU football program dealt with one of the most hectic, head-scratching endings LSU fans have ever seen in a 25-23 loss Nov. 21 at Ole Miss.
 
LSU coach Les Miles emphatically vowed, “That will not happen again.”
 
Well, it did. And it nearly cost LSU (5-0, 3-0) a major blemish in the loss column.
 
LSU junior running back Stevan Ridley bulldozed his way into the end zone from the 1-yard line on the last play of the game Saturday to save Miles from a debacle and give LSU a 16-14 win against Tennessee (2-3, 0-2) in one of the most bizarre finishes to a game in LSU history.
 
Even in the close win, LSU stayed at No. 12 in the Associated Press Top 25 and moved up to No. 9 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
 
“It’s one of the craziest games I’ll ever be a part of, but it certainly worked out,” said Ridley, who finished with 123 yards to record his third 100-yard game of the season. “It was a roller coaster of emotions.”
 
With LSU down 14-10 at the Tennessee 2-yard line with no timeouts and 32 seconds left on the clock, junior quarterback Jordan Jefferson was stopped for a 1-yard yard gain on a quarterback keeper.
 
Then chaos ensued.  
 
LSU took 22 valuable seconds to look clueless trying to run a play while the clock ticked down, reminiscent of the Ole Miss debacle last year.  
 
“I’m thinking about Ole Miss, like please Lord, don’t let this be another Ole Miss,” said senior wide receiver Terrence Toliver of the last 32 seconds.
 
Junior center T-Bob Hebert, who replaced injured sophomore P.J. Lonergan late in the game, snapped the ball with three seconds remaining, but Jefferson wasn’t ready, and the ball sputtered 17 yards behind him as the clock read 0:00.
 
But during LSU’s chaotic attempt to substitute, Tennessee countered with confusing personnel changes of its own. Two players came off the field while four players inexplicably found their ways onto the field.
 
As Tennessee players rejoiced and LSU players laid on the turf in disgust and disbelief, the officials in the booth reviewed the last play and announced Tennessee had 13 men on the field, paving the way for Ridley’s game-winning score. 
 
“When the win is stripped from you, or it feels like it was stripped from us, it is worse than losing — 10 times worse,” said Tennessee senior linebacker LaMarcus Thompson.
 
Ridley may have been the one to actually win the game, but it was Hebert who was the unsung hero.
 
Hebert saw time was running down and knew he needed to snap the ball no matter what.
 
“He was the guy that basically won the ball game for us,” said LSU senior linebacker Kelvin Sheppard.
 
The confusion at the end was created when LSU tried to sub out of a goal line formation with about 20 seconds left. Instead of spiking the ball to ensure at least one more play, Miles rushed three receivers onto the field for the final play. By the time Jefferson was set, the snap from Hebert was already past him.
 
“We did not need to change personnel,” Miles said. “We should have clocked it and/or had the other play ready to roll.”
 
Yet when Miles was asked why he didn’t spike it, he seemed to contradict himself.
 
“Frankly, I think the want to get the other personnel on the field took precedence in mind’s eyes certainly of the play call,” he said.
Even so, an emotional Miles was noticeably agitated during his postgame news conference, raising his voice several times as he did during last year’s Ole Miss fiasco.
 
He reiterated his team can’t make mistakes like this in order to win and even said the team will hear his “raunchy side Monday morning.”
 
“I told my team today in [the locker room] that I call bullshit on this team,” Miles said. “This team has to play better than this.”
 
The Tigers held the Volunteers to 217 yards total offense, although 71 of those came on a three-minute touchdown drive early in the fourth quarter, capped by a 3-yard scoring run from Tennessee junior quarterback Matt Simms. The Tigers’ own offense did show drastic signs of improvement with 434 yards — despite four turnovers.
 
But it didn’t come without controversy. Two series after Jefferson galloped for an 83-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage, junior backup quarterback Jarrett Lee entered the game to a collection of cheers from fans.
 
The two rotated throughout the game, but it was Lee who led LSU on its game-winning drive after the LSU defense stymied Tennessee junior running back Tauren Poole on fourth-and-1 with 5:41 remaining.
 
Lee completed two huge passes to Toliver with LSU on its heels — a 14-yard pass on third-and-13 and a 20-yard hookup on fourth-and-14.
Lee threw for 185 yards and an interception while Jefferson struggled mightily, finishing 3-of-10 for 30 yards and two interceptions.
 
 
 
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Contact Sean Isabella at [email protected]