The Recap: Tennessee 40, LSU 13

For the fourth time in six games, LSU fell behind early on the scoreboard.

This time, the Tigers had dug themselves into a hole that proved far too deep to climb out of.

After taking a 20-0 lead at the start of the second quarter, the No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers never looked back en route to a 40-13 win over No. 25 LSU, dropping the Tigers to 4-2 on the season.

LSU cut the lead to 20-7 just before halftime, but a third failed attempt on fourth down in the first half led to the Volunteers grabbing a field goal as time expired before the half.

Tennessee picked up where it left off in the third quarter, driving down the field with ease to score again and take the 30-7 lead.

LSU found the end zone with 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, but by that stage the game was well in hand.

Tennessee will carry an undefeated record into a matchup with Alabama next week, while LSU heads to Gainesville to take on a Florida Gators team that moved to 4-2 with a 24-17 win over Missouri on Saturday.

Here’s the rundown on how the game played out in Tiger Stadium.

FIRST QUARTER

LSU won the toss and elected to receive.

On the opening play of the game, special teams woes bit the Tigers, once more. This time, Jack Bech mishandled the kickoff and Tennessee recovered the loose ball.

The Volunteers needed just four plays to find the end zone and go ahead 7-0 just a little more than one minute into the game.

Tennessee 7, LSU 0 – 13:46 remaining in first quarter

Things got worse in a hurry for LSU.

After a quick three-and-out on offense, including a drop on third down by receiver Kayshon Boutte, the Tigers punted it away and Tennessee’s Dee Williams returned in 58 yards – nearly scoring a touchdown had punter Jay Bramblett not brought him down as the final man to miss.

LSU’s defense answered the call, holding Tennessee to a three-and-out before the Volunteers settled for the 35-yard field goal.

Tennessee 10, LSU 0 – 11:04 remaining in first quarter

The LSU offense woke up on the second possession of the game, driving 73 yards on 11 plays. Back-to-back passing plays to receiver Jack Bech and running back Josh Williams each went for double-digit yards, but the Tigers came away with nothing after going for it on fourth down from inside the red zone. Instead of attempting the field goal, LSU went to the passing game on 4th-and-4, but Boutte was stopped just inches short of the sticks on a check down play from Daniels.

From there, the Volunteers took the ball and quickly moved it past midfield thanks to a 25-yard catch-and-run by Bru McCoy.

The LSU defense was able to buckle in and force another field goal, which the Volunteers hit from 38 yards out.

For the third time in three SEC games, the Tigers trailed by double-digit before finding points. LSU fell behind against Mississippi State 13-0 before mounting a comeback to win 31-16. At Auburn, LSU erased a 17-0 deficit to get the 21-17 win.

Tennessee 13, LSU 0 – 2:26 remaining in first quarter

After a sack to start the drive, LSU moved the chains on a run by Daniels followed by a 10-yard completion to Malik Nabers. John Emery picked up 10 yards on a run the following play, though the referees flagged the Tigers for holding on a play where the Volunteers should have also been tagged with a face mask on Emery.

A couple quick passes for 7 yards and 10 yards, both to Brian Thomas Jr., closed out the quarter.

SECOND QUARTER

The Tigers faced a 3rd-and-1 coming out of the quarter break, and LSU called for a deep shot that Daniels had to ultimately throw away out of bounds. The Tigers went for it on 4th-and-1, but were stuffed on the run by Josh Williams, which gave the Volunteers the ball at the LSU 45-yard line.

One play later, Tennessee went deep for the touchdown on a 45-yard pass from Hendon Hooker to Jalin Hyatt.

Tennessee 20, LSU 0 – 14:39 remaining in second quarter

Daniels and the LSU offense picked up one first down on the following possession thanks to a 15-yard pass from Daniels to Nabers, but that was it for an offense that has struggled out of the gates all season. LSU punted the ball back to Tennessee’s offense with 12:15 remaining in the half.

After a drive that started at the 20-yard line, Tennessee moved it into enemy territory, but the drive came to a halt at LSU’s 38-yard line, and the Volunteers punted on 4th-and-10.

With 8:19 remaining until halftime, LSU put together the the offense’s best drive of the first half.

Thanks to some big plays in the passing game, the offense went 96 yards on 12 plays to score LSU’s first points of the game on a one-yard run by Josh Williams.

Tennessee 20, LSU 7 – 2:59 remaining in the second quarter

LSU’s defense buckled down again late in the half after Tennessee crossed midfield, but couldn’t convert on 3rd-and-9. And for the first time in the game, the Volunteers came up on the wrong end of special teams when the field goal attempt hit the post and bounced out.

The Tigers struck quick with a 22-yard pass from Daniels to Jenkins, and LSU nearly scored when Daniels went back to Jenkins on the next play, but Tennessee’s Juwan Mitchell got a hand on the pass attempt and deflected it enough for the incompletion.

For the third time in the game, LSU went for it on fourth down. And for the third time, the Tigers failed on the attempt.

Once again, LSU decided to attempt the fourth down in their own territory, and the Volunteers made them pay by taking the ball back with 23 seconds left and hitting Bru McCoy for a 32-yard gain to set up a 32-yard field goal as time expired in the half.

HALFTIME: Tennessee 23, LSU 7

THIRD QUARTER

Tennessee took the ball first out of the half and immediately made the Tigers pay, going 76 yards on eight plays in just over three minutes to find Hyatt for a 14-yard touchdown strike.

After cutting the lead to 13 points just before halftime, a pair of offensive possessions for the Volunteers extended the deficit to 23 points.

Tennessee 30, LSU 7 – 11:47 remaining in the third quarter

After a quick first down pass from Daniels to Jenkins, the Tigers weren’t able to muster anything on offense. Four snaps into the possession, the Tigers were forced to punt, once again. Jay Bramblett hit his best punt of the day on the 66-yarder that was downed inside the 5-yard line.

Hooker and Tennessee took the ball back and converted a couple first downs, but the LSU defense forced the punt to give the ball back to the offense. No matter, the Tigers were able to get nothing going on the three-and-out before the punt.

This time, Tennessee made the Tigers pay for a lackluster showing on offense. Hooker hit McCoy for a 48 yard on the first play of the drive, which ended in another rushing touchdown for Jabari Small. This time, the Volunteers went 92 yards on eight plays to put Tennessee ahead by 30 points.

Tennessee 37, LSU 7 – 2:13 remaining in the third quarter

FOURTH QUARTER

The Tigers kicked off the fourth quarter with a 29-yard pass from Daniels to Nabers, and then Nabers picked up the third down attempt a few plays later with a 12-yard grab. In that span, the Tigers were flagged with a holding on a play that took a touchdown pass to Nabers off the board.

On fourth down in the red zone, Tennessee was hit with a pass interference to keep the drive alive. Then, Daniels found Kayshon Boutte for his first touchdown of the 2022 season. The catch also put him at 16 total yards on the game, which continues to be a glaring issue on the stat sheet each week. Boutte has yet to have a game with more than 42 receiving yards.

LSU’s two-point conversion attempt failed when Daniels was sacked.

Tennessee 37, LSU 13 – 11:32 remaining in the fourth quarter

The Volunteers got the ball back and started to work the clock, taking off nearly nine minutes on a 13-play, 81-yard drive before kicking the field goal to go up 40-13.

Tennessee 40, LSU 13 – 2:39 remaining in the fourth quarter

The Tigers drove the ball into the red zone on the offense’s final possession, but Daniels was intercepted in the end zone with nine second left. It was his first interception thrown on the year.

FINAL: Tennessee 40, LSU 13