Instant Analysis: Auburn-LSU

In college football's season of craziness, this was perhaps the nuttiest poster child yet.

Just when you think you've seen it all in this sport, the final two minutes of this two-Tiger tilt provided a uniquely memorable finish that joined the Tommy Hodson Earthquake Game as one of the classic night games in Baton Rouge. The fact that Auburn was the opponent on each occasion, 19 years apart, has to make the boys and girls of the Bayou that much happier.

In a game that was evenly contested and fiercely fought, LSU was able to deliver the last punch just under the wire. When Matt Flynn--with the clock ticking down, alarmingly close to zero--hit Demetrius Byrd for a 22-yard touchdown, a sweaty-palm field goal attempt was averted, and the home team took control of the SEC West with a thrilling, spine-chilling, death-defying 30-24 victory that left the state of Louisiana happily exhausted on a night that no one will soon forget. With one pass, Flynn erased the heroics of Brandon Cox, the Auburn signal caller who had presided over a go-ahead 83-yard touchdown drive just minutes earlier. Just another night in the SEC, right?

Before continuing to salute the winning Tigers and commend the losing ones, however, a prominent word must be devoted to the rules and procedures governing the very concept of instant replay, the system of coach's challenges, and the methodology of booth reviews. These rules and procedures--which hopefully won't be in place beyond this season and demand a substantial reworking, if not an outright overhaul--are substantially influencing football games.

After LSU pulled off a remarkable victory with last-second heroics from Matt Flynn (and literally so--the game's winning touchdown was scored with exactly one tick left on the clock in Death Valley), it's not quite fair to say that replay made the difference in this game. Had Auburn not squibbed a kickoff in the game's final minutes (apparently Tommy Tuberville learned nothing from Houston Nutt's nightmare the week before during Auburn's last-minute win over Arkansas), perhaps the outcome would have been different. Yet, for all of LSU's grit and poise in a fourth-quarter comeback, this much still needs to be said: the flow of this game--though not necessarily its outcome--was certainly influenced by replay procedures that led to dubious on-field rulings by officials.

Midway through the fourth quarter, a Jacob Hester touchdown for LSU was allowed to stand, even though a replay shot indicated that the Bayou Bengals didn't have seven men on the line of scrimmage. With sane replay policies, the call would have fallen within the scope of replay review system. As a result, the penalty--picked up by Penn Wagers' SEC crew for reasons that defy reasonable explanation--would have stood when examined by replay. But the controversies weren't over in Tiger Stadium.

With just under two minutes left, LSU running back Richard Murphy--trying to convert a 3rd and 3--seemed to hit the ground at Auburn's 38 and a half yard line, before bouncing another half yard after impact. The spot was questionable, to put it mildly. Yet, for some reason, the SEC replay booth didn't deem the play fit to review, and when Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville refused to challenge the play, LSU was able to avoid sweating out a 4th and short, do-or-die situation. Again, the play didn't automatically determine the outcome of the game, especially when you consider LSU's reliability on fourth downs this season. As long as Jacob Hester plays for LSU, the Running Back Who Won't Ever Quit On Anything was likely to pound out a fourth down and keep hope alive for Les Miles' team. Nevertheless, that failure to review a significant and debatable play prevented Auburn from at least having the chance to stuff Hester on 4th and half a yard.

It's really rather simple, then: when the 2008 college football season arrives, every play of every kind should be subject to review, without limits on coaches and their ability to challenge calls. Every play should be looked at if there's even the slightest doubt about its accuracy or correctness. Every principle, every interpretation, and every nuance of the sport's rules must be thoroughly examined in order to arrive at the proper conclusion. It's absurd for there to be any artificial limits placed on this process. Much as professional tennis inexplicably limits player challenges of line calls to two correct challenges per set, it's equally ridiculous for college football to exclude many kinds of plays and rule interpretations from the realm of the review system. This is not a subtle way of saying that Auburn got jobbed; no, LSU earned this win fair and square. The problem is that while the Bayou Bengals prevailed based on the performance of their starting quarterback in the game's major moments, a cloud was nevertheless placed over the fourth quarter. Auburn would not have won if the two controversial calls were reversed by replay; however, it's just as true that Auburn would have had a better chance of winning. In 2008 and beyond, replay procedures must allow every play to be examined, so that Auburn coaches, players and fans could know with 100 percent certainty that they didn't have anything taken away from them.

It's too bad that a game this dramatic and exciting has to suffer because a sport doesn't know how to govern one of its most important components, but until college football learns its lesson, more nailbiters will drown in controversy instead of being rightfully savored by the people who were so fully enthralled by the spellbinding late-game action. LSU is playing the most deliciously entertaining football games of any team in the United States, and is almost always living to tell about it. Auburn is contesting top teams tooth and nail in 2007, and is acquitting itself quite well after a shoddy start to its season. Two teams of Tigers both played ferocious football, delivering the bonecrushing hits and maniacal, tackle-shedding runs that have become hallmarks of this relentlessly physical SEC West rivalry. Neither one of these teams can be praised enough after delivering an electrifying experience to all who witnessed this epic battle.

Yet, a lot of the postgame discussion--now, in the next week, and even in the long offseason that seems to last forever in the Deep South before football begins again the following September--will focus on two replay controversies that lacked proper procedures and policies. Auburn and LSU alike played with the kind of passion that makes SEC football special. These two teams and their coaches deserve to have rules that prevent the loser from having a sour taste in its mouth.