Athens – With the game on the line, LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson called someone else's number.
"[Running back] Charles [Scott] was running the ball good all game, so you might as well just keep feeding him," said Jefferson.
Perhaps Jefferson has a future as an offensive coordinator. On a play called "3 Read," Scott took the handoff from Jefferson and broke Georgia's heart.
With the Tigers trailing the Bulldogs 13-12 with 54 seconds remaining, Scott motored 33 yards for the game-winning touchdown. It was a gut-twisting turnabout to the late-game theatrics that Georgia had orchestrated to win its past three games.
"I didn't know who was behind me," said Scott, an all-SEC back who finished with 95 yards. "I was just running for my life."
LSU called timeout after Scott gained five yards on the first play of the drive, which started on the Georgia 38-yard line. LSU was so situated after the Bulldogs kicked off from their 15 because of an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty called on A.J. Green after Green's 16-yard touchdown reception. On the kickoff, speedster Trindon Holliday took the return from his 17 and returned it to the Bulldogs ‘43. An illegal formation penalty on Georgia tacked on five more yards.
Scott said that despite the Georgia touchdown, the Tigers did not despair.
"You see every [T-shirt] we wear, on the back of it, it says, ‘Finish,'" Scott said. "We play four quarters; five, six if it calls for it."
Initially, the Tigers wanted to get to the 35-yard line to give kicker Josh Jasper roughly a 52-yard attempt, offensive coordinator Gary Crowton said. In the timeout, Jefferson suggested a run and then Crowton thought LSU could throw on third down if necessary, which quickly became moot.
Crowton said he chose the particular play "which I felt like would give us a couple different running lanes for the big guy, and he found it."
Scott fought off tackles at the line of scrimmage by linebackers Marcus Dowtin and Rennie Curran on the way to the end zone. LSU center T-Bob Hebert put a block on Curran that could arguably have been a holding penalty.
Said Scott, "[Curran] was actually falling off a block, and T-Bob was kind of tackling him. I felt [Curran], but I didn't see him at all."
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