‘You Look at Yourself First,’ ‘If You Don’t Execute, You Don’t Execute’ — Lane Kiffin Reacts as Kentucky Upsets No. 10 LSU in Overtime

‘You Look at Yourself First,’ ‘If You Don’t Execute, You Don’t Execute’ — Lane Kiffin Reacts as Kentucky Upsets No. 10 LSU in Overtime

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‘You Look at Yourself First,’ ‘If You Don’t Execute, You Don’t Execute’ — Lane Kiffin Reacts as Kentucky Upsets No. 10 LSU in Overtime
‘You Look at Yourself First,’ ‘If You Don't Execute, You Don't Execute’ — Lane Kiffin Reacts as Kentucky Upsets No. 10 LSU in Overtime
‘You Look at Yourself First,’ ‘If You Don't Execute, You Don't Execute’ — Lane Kiffin Reacts as Kentucky Upsets No. 10 LSU in Overtime

LSU got the ball back twice with a three-point lead in the final five minutes Saturday night, and neither possession put Kentucky away.

Kentucky beat No. 10 LSU 35-34 in overtime at Kroger Field when quarterback Kenny Minchey ran in a two-point conversion, dropping the Tigers to 4-2 and 1-2 in the SEC.

LSU coach Lane Kiffin pinned the loss on execution afterward. The defeat leaves Pro Football Network’s College Football Playoff Meter giving the Tigers a 26.3% chance to make the 12-team playoff.

Kiffin Faults Execution as Kentucky Builds Early Lead

When things go the other way, “you look at yourself first,” Kiffin said, and he pointed to the plays that built Kentucky’s early lead.

Running back CJ Baxter broke a 77-yard run on Kentucky’s first offensive play to set up his own 3-yard touchdown, and Brock Coffman returned a punt 55 yards for a score early in the second quarter.

“If you don’t execute, you don’t execute,” Kiffin said. “The punt return, you got a player there tackling him and doesn’t tackle him, and he goes outside and, you know, on the long run, he swooped out of a gap and the ball goes for a long run. If you don’t do fundamentally sound stuff, you get exposed versus good teams.”

Kentucky led 21-17 at halftime after Minchey scored on the final play of the half, and Baxter already had 121 yards on 14 carries. Kiffin said at the break that his team had to tackle better.

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Kentucky didn’t score in the third quarter, even after Ty Bryant intercepted quarterback Sam Leavitt on LSU’s first play of the second half. Baxter finished with 123 yards on 19 carries.

LSU went ahead 27-24 on wide receiver Jackson Harris’ 41-yard touchdown pass to tight end Roman Mothershed. Kentucky kicker Adam Zouagui then missed a 42-yard field goal wide left, giving the Tigers the ball at their own 24 with just under five minutes to play.

“Can the Tigers play keep away?” Scott Rabalais, a sports columnist for The Advocate, wrote after the miss.

Kentucky Rallies Past LSU in Overtime on Minchey Conversion

LSU’s keep-away lasted two plays. Kentucky’s Jamarrion Harkless hit Leavitt and forced a fumble that Tavion Gadson recovered at the LSU 13. Zouagui missed again from 26 yards, leaving the Tigers up 27-24 with the ball and a little more than three minutes left.

“When the chance comes in the fourth quarter, you can’t let ’em hang around,” Kiffin said. “We had the ball ahead and then we turned the ball over. And another chance to end it there so they don’t get it back.”

LSU couldn’t run out the clock and punted with under two minutes left and Kentucky out of timeouts.

Kentucky took over at its own 19 with 97 seconds left, and Zouagui’s 33-yard field goal tied it at 27 with 12 seconds to go.

Leavitt’s 15-yard run gave LSU a 34-27 lead in overtime. Minchey then hit wide receiver Kenny Darby for 22 yards on third-and-8, Baxter scored from the 1, and after timeouts by Kiffin and Kentucky coach Will Stein, Minchey ran up the middle for the winning two-point conversion.

Leavitt finished 25 of 34 for 275 yards and two touchdowns, with an interception and the lost fumble. Leavitt, a junior, entered Saturday with a PFN Impact grade of 82.1 QBi for the season, 39th of 165 graded and qualified FBS quarterbacks.

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“This goes on all of us,” Kiffin said. “We had all kinds of chances to close the game out and win the game, and didn’t do it. You let people hang around on the road at night in the SEC, that’s gonna happen.”

Looking Ahead in Week 7 to Mississippi State

LSU hosts Mississippi State in Saturday’s Week 7 game at Tiger Stadium, with Alabama, Texas and Tennessee still ahead on its schedule.

PFN’s College Football Playoff Meter gives LSU a 73.8% chance to beat Mississippi State, with its playoff chance rising to 32.9% with a win and falling to 7.5% with a loss.

This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.

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