ATVS Roundtable: Remembering LSU-Tennessee 2010

Lucky number 13 men on the field

LSU-Tennessee isn’t exactly the most bitter rivalry in the SEC but the last time these two teams got together we saw maybe the single stupidest ending to a game in school history. What are YOUR memories of the 13 on the Field Game???

Brad

I was in Vegas on a bachelor party. We watched it in Caesars sports book. For the final minute, they switched as many monitors as they could to that game, which meant the entire house was paying attention. And it went bonkers when the final snap happened. I think I broke my phone after T Bob snapped it. I was SO mad at him for so long until YEARS later when I finally realized he won the game for us forcing that snap. It also took me a year or two to get over the hangover from that bachelor party. Could be a correlation there.

Evan

I will never forget Jordan Jefferson running 83 yards to the house on the first play of the game, assuaging my fears the offense would once again be stagnant and assuring me this would be a rout.

The next three quarters were absolute agony and the offensive struggles got to a point where it was unbearable for me and my parents. When the final errant (?) snap took place we all sulked and my dad cursed. Looking back, it really is a miracle he didn’t just then the TV off and cause us to miss what happened next, something we heard other people did later that day.

When the ref said LSU would get one more play I was certain of two things:

1. It was going to the a toss dive to Stevan Ridley

2. He was absolutely going to score

I was elated but my dad refused to celebrate a win we did not deserve. When the sideline reporter asked Les Miles how to describe the wild ending he happily said “Just another Saturday in the SEC!” and my dad yelled “Shut up you moron!”

We celebrated the following week’s win over Florida with much more fervor.

Jarrett

So, my primary memory of the game is the end. I was watching the game with my brother in the living room of our grandparents house. After LSU “lost,” my brother turned off the tv and went upstairs. I wanted to continue watching football so after he had left I turned the tv back on and the refs were on the field and they showed a replay. I called my brother back downstairs letting him know that Tennessee had too many players down on the field and he came back. The rest is history, of course. I will always remember that game though because of my brother ragequitting on the game and then LSU won.

Max

I was 11, I definitely had a youth football game that day. I remember watching it on youtube several years later though.

Adam

Oh boy, do I remember this day well.

In 2010 I was a senior in high school, and as most seniors had to do, I was shadowing for my senior project. I was doing mine on sports journalism (broadcasting, to be specific). It was a deal to find one that would work logistically, and the fine folks at WAFB decided Tennessee was a good game to get the full experience.

I remember for some reason we were late getting up to the pressbox (not like they had to do a live hit, the game was on WAFB) and we missed Jefferson’s scramble completely. After that I recall the game SUCKING. Just a horrible game of tackle football.

Because I was shadowing broadcasters, we went down for the field for the final few minutes of the game to watch from the sidelines. I remember the drama of the final drive well. The problem was that it was twice as chaotic as it came across on TV and I don’t know what I remember once LSU went down to the goal line. Everything happened so much as soon as the ball was snapped.

One moment I’m standing on the 25 yard line stepping around a celebrating Tennessee player, and the next we’re being escorted back to the sideline before the review had even been initiated. At that point I knew some bullshittery was afoot, but I thought it was something like offsides or snap interference (explaining the wild snap). I never thought it was 13 men and a purposeful snap from T-Bob.

I have a vague memory of Jacques Doucet telling me that we were going to try to get a picture of the handshake at midfield, so I was stationed to make a beeline there after the game was over. So this time, with a “normal” ending, I remembered my instructions and headed straight for the center of the 50…unfortunately, Derek Dooley did not, famously. So I tracked Les and saw up close and personal the “handshake”.

To say it’s an experience I’ll never forget is to grossly undersell it.

Zach

I was working in the suites that afternoon in Tiger Stadium. A friend of mine somehow someway landed some bullshit catering/serving job and somehow someway I got the hookup and worked with him that day.

I was brushing elbows with all kinds of various LSU big wigs that afternoon and when the ball went over Jordan Jefferson’s head and the clock ran out they were…let’s say less than thrilled. They were maybe a half second away from whipping out the Les Miles buyout money collection tin.