Would you ever expect that an Auburn-LSU intercollegiate football match would be a calm affair? Let’s reduce that to a more base level — would you ever expect that an Auburn football game in any capacity would be without stress?

No.

Today was no different, as the newest sickening chapter in the rivalry saw Auburn fall at home 22-21 to the Bayou Bengals as Cole Tracy hit a 42-yard field goal with no time left to win.

LSU began the game on fire, picking off Jarrett Stidham’s first pass (on the second play of the game) and taking their opening possession for a touchdown on a 34-yard drive. Just a few minutes in, the crowd watched the Bayou Bengals take a 7-0 lead on Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s short touchdown run. Auburn’s next drive contained a couple of big plays, including a long pass to Anthony Schwartz, but Gus Malzahn elected to go for it deep in LSU territory and failed.

Leading 7-0 after one quarter, LSU added a short field goal from Cole Tracy to take a 10-0 edge, but then Auburn’s offense woke up. Boobee Whitlow capped a 66-yard drive with a seven-yard touchdown run to pul within three, and then a defensive stand gave Auburn the ball right back. Aided by a roughing the passer penalty, Jarrett Stidham went to the true freshman combo of Seth Williams and Shaun Shivers to find the end zone again, and Shivers’ seven-yard burst over left guard gave Auburn its first lead of the game late in the first half at 14-10.

To start the third quarter, LSU got the ball, but turned it over on downs after a failed punter jump-pass trick play, and Auburn started with good field position near midfield. Again, Auburn turned to more another freshman, as Stidham found Asa Martin for 33 yards out of the backfield, and the drive ended with a four-yard Stidham touchdown pass to Darius Slayton to extend the lead to 21-10. The drive covered 55 yards in seven plays and took just 2:08 off the clock.

LSU added a field goal after a good drive, and Cole Tracy snuck it through from 27 yards out to cut Auburn’s lead to 21-13 with 3:58 left in the third quarter. Greedy Williams then intercepted a sideline pass from Stidham that was intended for Slayton and gave LSU good field position at the 47-yard line, but the Auburn defense forced another three-and-out and we went to the fourth quarter with Auburn facing a 2nd-and-1 deep in its own end.

Auburn moved the ball to the LSU 35, but a bad snap forced a wide kick from Anders Carlson from 52 yards away, and the lead stood at 21-13 with 12:57 to go. After Auburn punted the ball back to LSU, Joe Burrow threaded a pass over the outstretched hands of Deshaun Davis and into the arms of Derrick Dillon, who sped 71 yards down the eastern sideline to pull LSU within 21-19. The two-point conversion failed, and Auburn still held a slim lead with 8:18 to play.

A holding penalty stalled Auburn’s next drive, and they were forced to punt the ball back to LSU with a little more than five minutes left, still leading by just two. A pass interference on Jeremiah Dinson gave LSU life on 3rd-and-11, and then they converted a fourth down around midfield to get into field goal range. Another pass interference penalty gave LSU the ball very much inside field goal range, and they hit the game-winning field goal as time expired to win 22-21.

Next week, Auburn will play host to Arkansas. The Razorbacks lost today to North Texas at home.

TEAM OFFENSE

AUBURN

• Total Yards: 328
• Passing Yards: 198
• Rushing Yards: 130
• Penalties: 9-111
• Third Down: 4-12

LSU

• Total Yards: 370
• Passing Yards: 249
• Rushing Yards: 121
• Penalties: 9-90
• Third Down: 7-19