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          Missed field goals prove costly for Auburn

          Oct 23, 2005

            BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- This season, there was no reprieve for
            Auburn's John Vaughn.

            Vaughn's 39-yard field goal attempt in overtime hit the left
            upright, giving No. 7 LSU a 20-17 victory over No. 16 Auburn on
            Saturday night.

            Last year, Auburn beat LSU 10-9 on Courtney Taylor's touchdown
            with 1:14 remaining. Vaughn initially missed the extra point, but a
            penalty gave him a second chance. In this season's rematch, he
            missed five field goals, including a 49-yarder in the final seconds
            of regulation that would have won it.

            "About three of the kicks tonight, when I hit them I thought
            they were good. I got a little unlucky and they went right or
            left," Vaughn said. "The last one tonight, I thought I hit it
            pretty good and when I looked up I knew I was probably going to
            need a little bit of luck right there."

            Auburn (5-2, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) had won 13 straight
            against SEC opponents, one short of the school record.

            Auburn took a 17-14 lead with 4:52 remaining in the fourth
            quarter. Brandon Cox capped a 13-play, 87-yard drive with a 5-yard
            scoring pass to Anthony Mix on fourth down.

            But LSU, which also missed two field goals in the game, tied it
            on Chris Jackson's 44-yarder with 1:40 to play.

            Auburn's Kenny Irons rushed for a career-high 218 yards, the
            most allowed by LSU since Alabama's Shaun Alexander had 291 in
            1996. He appeared to put Auburn in good position to win with a
            19-yard run to the LSU 36 with 27 seconds remaining in the fourth
            quarter. But Cox completed a pass inbounds to Taylor, and Auburn
            was out of timeouts.

            The clock kept running, and Auburn spiked the ball with 6.8
            seconds remaining. Vaughn missed, sending the game into overtime.

            "We can't blame it on one person," Irons said. "Everybody
            made mistakes. We just have to keep our heads up."

            LSU (5-1, 4-1) had the ball first in overtime, but had to settle
            for Jackson's 30-yard field goal after Early Doucet dropped a pass
            in the end zone. The LSU defense then held, setting up Vaughn's
            last miss into the wind.

            "As a kicker you have to kick in the wind," Vaughn said.
            "They had to kick in the wind, too."

            Irons was the SEC offensive player of the week after rushing for
            182 yards at Arkansas last weekend. He gave Auburn a 10-7 lead over
            LSU with an electrifying 74-yard touchdown run in the third. Irons
            appeared to be stopped for a short gain, then broke free of the
            defense and sprinted downfield to the end zone.

            LSU answered with JaMarcus Russell's 18-yard scoring pass to
            Dwayne Bowe, then squandered a chance to increase its lead early in
            the fourth quarter. On third down, Russell found Bowe open in the
            back of the end zone, but the receiver couldn't hold on. Colt David
            missed a 28-yard kick on the next play.

            "Every great player drops a touchdown pass," Bowe said. "I'm
            just happy I got mine out of the way early. That will be the last
            one, guaranteed."

            Auburn drove back into field goal range, but Vaughn missed from
            37 yards with 11:21 left in the fourth. He also missed kicks of 54
            and 41 yards.

            Both teams were coming off sloppy wins. LSU beat No. 18 Florida
            21-17 last weekend despite five turnovers. Auburn rallied for a
            34-17 win at Arkansas after Cox threw two first-half interceptions.

            Neither team turned the ball over this weekend, although they
            both struggled to move the ball at times. Russell went 16-of-33 for
            190 yards, and Cox was 16-of-40 for 221 yards.

            "JaMarcus Russell is playing with a little bit of a dinged arm,
            and he played well," LSU coach Les Miles said. "He fought with
            courage in him."

            LSU led 7-3 at halftime after Skyler Green returned a punt 66
            yards for a touchdown in the first quarter.

            "That is football. You have got to execute and tonight the
            kicking game wasn't there for us," Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville
            said. "They ran that punt back, we made a mistake but that's part
            of it."

            Vaughn kicked a 26-yard field goal in the second quarter, but
            his misses later in the game helped LSU stay in the thick of the
            conference title race. Alabama (7-0, 5-0) leads the SEC West.

            "It was a relief to me," Bowe said. "If I had caught that
            touchdown pass I could have sealed the victory. When that kicker
            missed it I almost cried. I'm just glad we came out with a
            victory."

            Joseph Addai rushed for 105 yards for LSU, which has won four
            straight since a 30-27 overtime loss to Tennessee.

            Auburn has won 20 of 22 overall -- its previous SEC loss was at
            Georgia on Nov. 15, 2003. Auburn went 4-0 against top 10 teams last
            year en route to an undefeated season.

            The crowd of 92,664 was the largest in Tiger Stadium history,
            eclipsing last week's mark of 92,402.