Despite another solid effort by the defense, the LSU Tigers fell to the No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners 17-13 Saturday in Norman, Okla.
Oklahoma scored on two big pass plays of 45 and 58 yards. The latter, a pass from John Mateer to Isaiah Sategna III, and Tate Santell’s PAT gave the Sooners the 17-13 lead with 4:16 left to play.
Barion Brown returned the ensuing kickoff 47 yards to the LSU 49.
The Tigers got one first down on a 10-yard pass from Michael Van Buren to Brown to the OU 37.
But on fourth-and-2 from the 29, a pass intended for Bauer Sharp was broken up with just over a minute left and the Sooners ran out the clock.
LSU finished a tumultuous regular season 7-5. Oklahoma improved to 10-2 and will likely receive a berth into the College Football Playoff.
“I thought in spots we played outstanding and gave ourselves a chance,” interim Head Coach Frank Wilson said. “Unfortunately it was not enough and we fell short.
“I told our team I’m extremely proud of them of the way they competed, of the way they believed they could win this game and came into it with that mindset and played accordingly.”
LSU missed several opportunities on offense. Early in the game Harold Perkins Jr. returned an interception to the OU 4. But a Van Buren pass was intercepted in the end zone on first down.
The Tigers intercepted three passes but scored a touchdown after only one.
AJ Haulcy returned one 42 yards to the Sonners 33 early in the second half. Two plays later Van Buren ran 23 yards to the 1. He then passed to Zavion Thomas for the score and the Tigers led 10-3.
Oklahoma tied it on a 45-yard pass from Mateer to Deion Burks, who caught the ball at the LSU 47 and did the rest.
The Tigers took a 13-10 lead on a 43-yard Ramos field goal with 7:56 left in the game.
LSU had a first down at the 22 but lost 17 yards on a fumble and 5 more on a delay of game penalty.
Van Buren hit Thomas for 18 yards on third-and-32 which set up the field goal.
LSU forced a punt but the Tigers netted just five yards in three plays and had to punt it back to the Sooners.
OU took the lead soon after on Sategna’s big play.
LSU sputtered on offense most of the game. Tigers gained a total of 10 yards on their first four possessions. A couple of major penalties against the Tide enabled Ramos to kick 25-yard field goal to tie the game at 3 and that’s how it stood at the half.
LSU had 198 yards total offense. Van Buren completed 14-of-26 passes for 96 yards with one interception. He also rushed for 33 yards on five carries.
Caden Durham led the Tigers with 52 yards rushing on six carries.
Grant Chadwick punted nine times for a 45.2 average.
Mateer completed 23-of-38 passes for 318 yards, but 103 of that came on the two touchdowns. Sategna had nine catches for 121 yards.
The Sooners had just 75 yards rushing on 28 attempts. They punted seven times for an average of 43.1 yards.