Kentucky Hits LSU in the Mouth

Oct 14, 12:30 AM

Current Headlines: LEXINGTON, Ky. _ So, who's No. 1?

Better question: Who "wants" to be No. 1?

Kentucky staged a football version of Big Blue Madness, its annual celebration of its basketball team. The 17th-ranked Wildcats did their part to further deconstruct college football's hierarchy with a 43-37 triple-overtime ambush of top-ranked LSU on Saturday.

"This wasn't a fluke," said Kentucky coach Rich Brooks, whose job was in jeopardy a year ago after the Wildcats lost, 49-0, at LSU. "49 to nothin'. . . I think that's a pretty significant improvement."

No, it wasn't a fluke. Kentucky outhit and outplayed the team everyone assumed to be the nation's best. Like the previous Saturday's LSU-Florida game in Baton Rouge, this game made Ali-Frazier look like a cotillion.

"Last year, they hit us in the mouth," said Kentucky junior offensive tackle Garry Williams. "This year we hit them in the mouth."

The Tigers willed their way to a fourth-quarter comeback victory over the defending national champions. A week later, LSU had a 27-14 third-quarter lead, but couldn't close the deal.

"There were many ways to win this game," LSU coach Les Miles said. "Our team came here to play, we played hard. It wasn't a loss of focus."

LSU is by no means out of the national championship hunt. The drawing for post positions starts Sunday afternoon with the release of the first Bowl Championship Series standings.

The Tigers, though, flew home to Cajun country pondering the narrow margin between 7-0 and 6-1.

_After taking a 27-14 lead with 4:19 remaining in the third quarter, LSU totaled just 52 yards on three possessions through the end of regulation.

_The team's two-headed quarterback was decapitated. Starter Matt Flynn was hassled by Kentucky's rush and threw for just 130 yards. Super sub Ryan Perrilloux was a non-factor after halftime.

_Sophomore Charles Scott had 91 yards and two TDs on five first-half carries. He had two carries after halftime.

_On the final possession of regulation, LSU started at its own 16 with 4:14 remaining and three timeouts. It covered 30 yards in seven plays and 3:19 before calling a timeout at 0:55. Colt David's 57-yard field-goal try as time ran out had the distance, but was wide left by about a yard.

One week after looking like a coaching savant with five fourth-down conversions in the defeat of Florida, Miles will face the flipside of fame.

"Mistakes were made? Yeah, you bet," Miles said. "As a coach, I can coach better, and I will. When something like this happens, look at me first.

"We've got a team that's sick. I did not enjoy this."

Trailing by six points on its last possession, LSU ran the ball four consecutive times. On fourth-and-2, Scott was stuffed by Kentucky linebacker Braxton Kelley.

"I can't think of a more fitting ending than to have our defense make the stop to end the game," Brooks said. "For you people who don't think our defense is better, get a clue."

Kentucky senior quarterback, Andre Woodson had numbers (21-of-38, 250 yards, three TDs) that Colt Brennan would sneer at.

But Woodson's game management was Heisman Trophy-caliber. His audibles from run to pass and from pass to run kept LSU off-balance and kept Kentucky's offense on schedule.

"His intelligence and the way he managed that game was outstanding," Brooks said. "He was The Man."

"Andre understands where his problems are," Kentucky offensive coordinator Joker Phillips said. "Your problems against a defense like LSU, it's when they walk on the field.

"I didn't see anything on film that we could do against that defense. We just wanted to get the ball back to the line of scrimmage."

Not exactly a confidence-building game plan, but it worked. The Tigers' top-ranked defense allowed 375 total yards and won the turnover battle. But LSU was unable to stuff Kentucky's running game and didn't sack the quarterback for the first time in 25 games.

Derrick Locke, a freshman filling in for injured starter Rafael Little, had 64 hard-earned yards as the Wildcats ground out 125 yards.

"(Offensive line coach Jimmy Heggins) at halftime said, `We're going to run the ball,' " Locke said. "I've been hit hard, but they were poppin' me on every play. Whatever you got in that game, you earned it."

Kentucky earned another fine from the SEC office because hundreds of fans stormed the field. The school's athletic department had to pay $25,000 after the Louisville game for its lack of crowd control.

Celebrating a victory over the No. 1-ranked team will cost Kentucky $50,000.

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