Sunday, October 4, 2009

Dawgs Lose Heartbreaker To LSU 20-13

At least it wasn't a slow and painful death, it happened very quickly. The Dawgs had just taken the lead on a 16 yard touchdown reception by A. J. Green who made yet another unbelievable catch in the corner of the endzone with 1:06 remaining in the game. The officials threw a flag for excessive celebration and forced the Dawgs to kickoff from the 15 yard line, LSU returned the kick 40 yards plus another 5 for an illegal kick formation on the Dawgs and had the ball on the Dawgs 38 yard line. Two plays later and it was all over, 23 seconds had run off the clock.

The Dawgs held LSU to just three points during the Tigers’ first three trips to the Red Zone and 10 points total in four trips. The Dawg’s first stop came on an interception by sophomore cornerback Brandon Boykin in the first quarter. The Dawgs also held LSU on a fourth-and-1 late in the second quarter on the Dawg’s 10-yard line. The Dawgs have held opponents to nine field goals in 20 trips to the Red Zone and were 11th in Red Zone defense in the league going into this game.

The Dawgs came in with five sacks through four games and then recorded three consecutive sacks to start the second half against the Tigers and finished the day with six, the most since the win over Michigan State in the Capital One Bowl last year. Sophomore defensive end Justin Houston had a pair of sacks and senior defensive tackle Kade Weston had the third in the flurry to start the second half.

The Dawg’s offense had just one first down and gained only 49 total yards on 18 plays in the opening half. This is the first scoreless half for the Dawgs since last year’s Alabama game. In the first half, the Dawg’s defense was on the field for 42 plays surrendering only six points and 236 yards with two stops in the Red Zone. Overall, LSU ran 72 plays for 368 yards.

Sophomore sensation A.J. Green, the SEC’s leading receiver, had five catches for 99 yards and one TD. He has five TDs this season and 13 for his career.

With the Dawg’s offense struggling, sophomore Drew Butler had to punt five times in the first half and averaged 50.4 yards. Currently, he leads the nation with a 50.1 yard average and today he averaged 49.1 yards on seven punts versus #4 LSU.

Freshman tailback Washaun Ealey made his debut with 7:07 left in the third quarter. Ealey finished with 33 yards on eight carries, gaining the Dawg’s second first down of the game and the only one rushing for the day.

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