LEXINGTON, Ky. — Thoughts of Doug Flutie’s 1984 “Hail Mary” against Miami were in the air in the aftermath of Saturday’s LSU-Kentucky game, as stunned UK players and fans saw victory snatched from their clutches.
Devery Henderson’s 75-yard, last-second catch allowed LSU (7-2, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) to escape Lexington, Ky. victorious for the second straight year, this time with a 33-30 victory. The catch, which came with two seconds on the clock, was tipped by two Kentucky players on the 25-yard line before falling into Henderson’s hands.
The junior wideout scampered into the endzone to the disbelief of Kentucky fans, including those who stormed the field and were trying to tear the goalposts down.
Henderson, who finished with 201 yards on five catches and scored three touchdowns, had few words to describe the wild ending.
“I still can’t believe it right now,” Henderson said. “Something like what happened had to happen to win the game.”
Head coach Nick Saban was pleased his team pulled out a victory, but said he was disappointed LSU could not put Kentucky away after leading late in the game.
“We were fortunate to win this game,” Saban said. “We didn’t dominate them like I thought we should have — there was no knockout punch.”
The first three quarters were a see-saw match, with each team trading leads and committing penalties.
LSU had 13 penalties for 104 yards while the Wildcats (6-4, 2-4) had five for 49 yards. The Tigers did not commit a turnover in the game.
Kentucky struck paydirt on its second possession, with Jared Lorenzen hitting Aaron Boone for a 43-yard touchdown. The score capped a 98-yard drive after Donnie Jones had a school-record 86-yard punt to pin the Wildcats at its two.
Lorenzen completed 12-of-16 passes for 210 yards and four touchdowns.
Momentum shifted to the Tigers’ side in the second quarter. LSU tied the game on a 70-yard touchdown on a shuffle pass from Randall to Henderson.
With 13 seconds left in the half, Randall connected with Henderson again for a 30-yard score to give the Tigers a 14-7 halftime lead. Randall finished with 264 passing yards and three touchdowns, completing 10-of-23 passes.
LSU extended its lead in the second half when Joseph Addai ran 63 yards for a touchdown on the team’s first play from scrimmage to make the score 21-7. He had 91 yards on nine carries.
“I thought we were wearing them down,” Saban said. “It’s to their credit that they kept fighting.”
The Wildcats roared back later in the quarter and cut the Tiger lead in half on a Lorenzen touchdown to Chase Harp.
The teams traded field goals for touchdowns, with John Corbello hitting from 49 and 19 yards out. Lorenzen threw two more touchdowns to Boone and with 2:24 left to play, the game was tied at 27.
After forcing LSU to punt, Kentucky took the lead with a 29-yard field goal from Taylor Begley with 11 seconds left.
The Wildcats called a timeout with time left on the clock, even though the team had made a first down and could have run the clock down before kicking. UK head coach Guy Morriss said the call was made by mistake.
“He [Lorenzen] went to the huddle to explain [when to call timeout] to the team and evidently everybody didn’t get the message,” Morriss said.
The added time allowed Henderson to field the ensuing kickoff and run out of bounds. After a delay of game penalty backed LSU to its eight, Randall hit Michael Clayton for 17 yards to set up the last play.
“We always say play for 60 minutes,” Randall said. “I sprinted out and I just threw it up toward the guys and they made the tip and Devery just came up with the big catch.”