Down 14-13 on Saturday, LSU football coach Les Miles called a timeout on fourth-and-1 with 9:51 remaining at Alabama’s 26-yard line. What happened next sent 92,969 fans into a frenzy.
Instead of lining up for a field goal, junior tight end Deangelo Peterson took a reverse from junior running back Stevan Ridley for 23 yards to the Alabama 3-yard line.
Peterson said the play was called “River Left,” and the Tigers (8-1, 5-1) practiced it all week in preparation for Alabama (7-2, 4-2). He lined up at a wing position on the right side of the line, motioned left, then motioned back to his original position before the snap.
“When they called it on fourth-and-1, at first I was nervous,” Peterson said. “I was like, ‘What if I drop it?’ Once I got on the field, I felt comfortable with it, and I knew it was going to work.”
The play was one of two successful fourth-down fakes and one of nine plays resulting in a gain of at least 15 yards for the Tigers en route to a 24-21 victory.
“This is a game you will never forget,” said sophomore wide receiver Russell Shepard. “Who gives a reverse to a tight end?”
The other successful fake came in the third quarter when senior kicker Josh Jasper faked a punt and ran 29 yards to the Alabama 31-yard line. The run made him LSU’s leading rusher at that point in the game.
Jasper converted on a fake field goal against Florida and a fake punt against McNeese State earlier this year.
“I think the fact that I was successful in the earlier fakes made me build more confidence to do more fakes,” Jasper said. “This one was the longest fake I’ve had. It was great blocking and a great scheme.”
The Tigers are now 8-of-9 on fourth down this season. The only trick play that didn’t work against Alabama was an attempted fake sweep pass by Ridley on LSU’s first drive. Ridley was forced to hold onto the football and lost four yards.
“Any time you can throw a wrinkle in there and have a trick play, it kind of keeps them on their heels,” Ridley said. “We had one earlier and they sniffed it out, but I think that backed them up a little bit.”
Titanic gains came in bunches for the Tigers throughout the second half. Eight of LSU’s nine plays of 15 yards or more came after halftime.
The longest pass play of the season came on a 75-yard pass from junior quarterback Jordan Jefferson to sophomore wide receiver Rueben Randle in the third quarter, one play after Jefferson completed a 19-yard pass to senior wide receiver Terrence Toliver.
Randle said Jefferson, who completed 10 of 13 passes for 141 yards, was in the zone all game.
“I think he’s comfortable back there in the pocket,” Randle said. “On the sidelines we were talking, and it felt like he had his swag back.”
Randle also caught a 47-yard pass on third down from junior quarterback Jarrett Lee with less than three minutes to go to seal the game for the Tigers.
Shepard recorded the Tigers’ longest run of the day on a 41-yard read play in the third quarter, and Ridley had runs of 18 yards and 19 yards in the fourth quarter.
“You’ve got to make big plays,” Shepard said. “Coach [Billy] Gonzales preaches it every day. We feel like if we can make five big plays over 20 yards, we have a 90 to 95 percent chance to win the game.”
Miles said the trick plays come from understanding an opponent and figuring out the best situations to use them.
“It’s not in my hat,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve done anything new that 50, 60 high school coaches in this state wouldn’t do. I think if you like football and you’ve got a feel for some stuff, you’ve got to let it ride.”
 
 
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Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]