24-23 But Who Did He Beat?

There are those who see Coach Miles' 25-23 fourth quarter record and say, “Les’ teams don’t quit.” On the other hand, there are those who look at the same record and say, “Les’ teams play down to their competition; we should never have been down in those games in the first place.”

Lets see if the nega-Tigers are right. Below is a list of Les’ fourth quarter comebacks year by year. Included are the opponents rank and LSU’s rank at the time of the game.


2005

#15 Arizona State #5LSU
#11 Florida #8 LSU
#15 Auburn #7 LSU
#3 Alabama #5 LSU

2006
#8 Tenn #13 LSU
UR Ole Miss #9 LSU

2007
#9 Florida #1LSU
#17 Auburn #4LSU
#17 Alabama #3LSU
#14 Tennessee #7LSU

2008
UR Troy #19LSU
#10 Auburn #6 LSU
UR South Carolina #13 LSU (was actually tied going into the Fourth Quarter)***

2009
#14 Georgia #4LSU
UR Arkansas #17LSU

2010
UR Tennessee #12 LSU
#14 Florida #12 LSU
#5 Alabama #12 LSU
UR Ole Miss #5 LSU

2011
#2 Alabama #1LSU


2012
UR Ole Miss #8LSU

2013
UR Arkansas #15 LSU

2014
#14 Wisconsin #13 LSU
UR Florida UR LSU
#3 Ole Miss #24 LSU

Notes:

16 of the 24 were against ranked opponents.

15 of the 24 were against “Big Six” SEC opponents.

1 of the 24 was against a non power 5 team.

8 of the 24 were against unranked opponents. BUT only 7 times did a ranked LSU team have to come back against an unranked opponent (in the 2014 UF game both LSU and UF were unranked). 3 of the instances where LSU had to come back against an unranked opponent were in 2008 and 2009 which were years where LSU arguably shouldn't have been ranked either. 5 of the instances where LSU had to come back against an un ranked opponent were against Ole Miss and Arkansas who both seem to always play LSU tough no matter what the rankings say.

11 of the 24 were away from Tiger Stadium (Thanks. Mastr Shake).

4 of the 24 were actually upset victories against top 10 teams.

Another nega-Tiger myth busted?


Someone asked about Saban's record in these situations so here's how he's done since '07:

2007
UR BAMA #16 Arkansas W
#16 BAMA #22 UGA L
#22 BAMA UR FSU L
UR BAMA UR OM W
#17 BAMA # 3 LSU L
#21 BAMA UR Miss. State L
UR BAMA UR ULM L
UR BAMA 25 AU L

2008
#1 BAMA #2 UF L
#4 BAMA #7 UTAH L

2009
#3 BAMA #9 LSU W
#2 BAMA UR Auburn W

2010
#1 BAMA #19 SC L
#5 BAMA #10 LSU L
#9 BAMA #2 Auburn L
1 BAMA 10 Arkansas W

2011 – N/A. Note despite losing in OT, BAMA never trailed LSU in the fourth.

2012
#1 BAMA #5 LSU W
#1 BAMA #15 A&M L
#2 BAMA #3 UGA W

2013
1 BAMA 4 Auburn L
3 BAMA 11 Oklahoma L

2014
#3 BAMA #11 OM L
#7 BAMA UR Arkansas W

Notes:

8-15 record total.
5 of the 8 were against ranked opponents.
4 of the 8 were against “Big Six” SEC opponents.
0 of the 8 were against a non Power 5 team but there is one loss (ULM 2007) against a non Power 5 team.
3 of the 8 were against unranked teams. 2 of those three were against Ole Miss and Arkansas.
0 were an upset victory over a top ten team but 1 was an upset over a top 16 team.


EDT: Edited to change record from 25-23 to 24-23. The post always reflected that LSU and SC were tied going into the fourth quarter in the 2010 game referenced above. That was the 25th game. Also edited to note away record.

EDT: Edited to add Saban's record.