No. 7 LSU Nips No. 16 Auburn 20-17 in OT

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Posted 6:05AM on Sunday, October 23, 2005

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- This season, there was no reprieve for Auburn's John Vaughn. Vaughn's 39-yard field goal in overtime hit the left upright, giving No. 7 LSU a 20-17 win 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. Auburn (5-2, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) had won 13 straight against SEC opponents, one short of a 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 27.5 seconds remaining in the fourth. But Cox completed a pass inbounds to Taylor, and Auburn was out of timeouts. Auburn spiked the ball with 6.8 seconds remaining, and Vaughn missed, sending the game into overtime. 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. Irons gave Auburn a 10-7 lead with an electrifying 74-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. 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-yarder on the next play. Auburn drove back into field goal range, but Vaughn missed from 37 yards with 11:21 left in the fourth. LSU led 7-3 at halftime. Skyler Green returned a punt 66 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, and Vaughn kicked a 26-yard field goal in the second. 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 season 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 in a win over Florida. © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.