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Wednesday Wayback: 2001 SEC Semifinal: #24 LSU 27, #22 Auburn 14

What if I told you the SEC did a playoff over a decade before the rest of the NCAA?

By Adam Henderson
Auburn, let's have a talk about poor life choices.
Auburn, let's have a talk about poor life choices.

The Setting

  • This game was originally scheduled to happen on September 15th, but the 9/11 tragedy pushed this game back to December 1st.
  • Everybody knows that this was a mini-playoff for the SEC Championship, but what people often forget is that Auburn and LSU had the exact same 7-3 record. These days, you're lucky if a 7-3 record gets you 3rd in the SEC West.
  • Also, Florida and Tennessee the same night had the exact same implications as this game did, and Tennessee beat Florida in Steve Spurrier's last game game in The Swamp.
  • I think this may have the darkest it has ever been for pre-game. It's only a 6:50 kickoff, but keep in mind that this game is being played in December. I mean, it's completely dark when the band comes down the field. That's crazy.
  • This was the first game of the Tiger Bowl played inside Tiger Stadium since the cigar game, and Auburn decided the best course of action would be to stomp on the eye pre-game. Not only did that piss off the LSU fans and team, it drew the ire of the refs, who hit Auburn with a 15 yard penalty to be enforced on the kickoff which...
video courtesy of rnolan53, as always

The Game

  • Ole Nick would use as an excuse to spring an onside on their jabroni asses. Michael Clayton recovers and Tubbs feels some type of way about it
  • Against a four man front one play later, Saban decides to run a trap from a shotgun. I haven't watched every Bama game during the Saban era, but that stuck out to me for some reason. It's just something I can't imagine him doing so early in a game now. Toefield gets 16 up the middle.
  • One rush later, Reed gets inside his defender, which is an automatic 10 yards and an addition 5 of that sweet, sweet YACA. In 4 plays, LSU is within the 5.
  • Once again, one play later, Toefield puts in the paint. 7-0 LSU.
  • Michael Clayton inspires Jarvis Landry to do the exact same thing a decade later against the same team, only in a slightly different uniform.
  • Campbell connects to Carter on a 72-yard bomb thanks to a COMPLETE whiff by a player I can't ID (Lionel Thomas?) and Randall Gay getting burned. 7-7 all.
  • Tommy tries to return the onside favor and LSU sniffs it out, recovering in the Auburn half of the field.

  • Josh Reed y'all. There's no X's and O's to break down here, he just straight up shakes a fool and it takes 20 yards for a safety to bring him down. I had a coach once say receptions, yards, and TD's are all nice for a receiver has, but the most important stats a receiver can have is a high YACA (Yards After Catch) and a low drop number. Reed did well in both departments.
  • Again, all Reed needed was a step and it would be a catch, but a blocked FG would turn the ball over to Auburn, who in turn...
  • Gives it right back to LSU via a tip drill. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good, and having three of the same colored shirts around a ball in the air tends to increase your luck.
  • 3rd and 10. Josh Reed. 37 yards.
  • JR25. 14-7 LSU.
  • lol a circuit city ad.
  • Hey look, a pass to somebody other than Josh Reed. Make a note, because that only happens 6 more times in this game.
  • Good God, Josh Reed.
  • Just some SEXY blocking on this power. Davis makes a subtle cutback behind a pulling tackle and absorbs a few body blows as he finds paydirt. 21-7. I think that was Brad Smalling, who was rocking the frosted spikes:
  • At halftime, Damon Duval picks a "fight" with The Golden Band From Tigerland members Mark Aycock and Joey LaHatte, thus completing the Auburn trifecta of pissing off LSU fans. Duval would go on to miss a field goal in the 3rd quarter, which would not have mattered anyway.
  • Toefield breaks a tackle and turns it into 43 yards, which LSU would convert into a field goal. 24-7.
  • Trev Faulk goes in untouched on Jeff Klein, dropping him for a 7 yards loss. Two incomplete passes later, on 4th and 18, Demetrius Hookfin would intercept Damon Duval's pass on a fake punt. The field goal was one thing, but this is where Duval really gave the game away. LSU got the ball at their own 39 and salted the clock down to 7 minutes before giving the ball back, putting up another 3 that makes the hole nearly inescapable. 27-7
  • Oh yeah, and Rohan Davey does something you would not expect somebody with his body type to do, hitting Myers on a desperation heave on the run.
  • Chris Butler scores for Auburn with 3:05 left, but at this point the damage is done. 27-14 LSU, Final.
  • WE GOIN' TO THE SHIP.