Schiefelbein: Damaging penalties doom LSU

• By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Nov 29, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — This may last as the signature moment of a season turned sour: when LSU senior defensive end Tremaine Johnson shoved Arkansas offensive guard Wade Grayson from behind, Grayson on all fours and the play already over.

LSU had stopped Arkansas, which was conceding, basically, by running a dive play up the middle on a third-and-29, for a 1-yard gain to the Arkansas 12-yard line. The Tigers were about to get the ball back with good field position and a nine-point lead late in the third quarter.

Instead, Johnson pushed Grayson — a yard or so behind senior Tyson Jackson’s stop of Brandon Barnett — and was called for unnecessary roughness, which carries a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down.

That was the second of four penalties, good for 42 yards and three automatic first downs, in a 17-play, 90-yard drive that cut the LSU lead to 30-24 and took eight minutes, 33 seconds off the clock.

Though Arkansas got only Alex Tejada’s field goal, the drive got Arkansas into one-play-beats-LSU territory. The Razorbacks did just that, cashing in with a gutsy fourth-down call in the final minute to win 31-30 Friday at War Memorial Stadium.

“Certainly, that possession makes a difference,” LSU coach Les Miles said.

Arkansas began the drive at its own 5, but Jackson was offside on the first play. … cornerback Patrick Peterson held receiver London Crawford on a long throw, good for a first down at the LSU 40. … And after Jackson broke up a pass, end Rahim Alem kicked the ball in celebration, with a 12-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty putting Arkansas at the LSU 12.

“You’ve got to play smarter than that,” Miles said of Johnson’s blunder, the worst of the lot. “There is no excuse. … It’s something he’ll have a difficult time with, I’m certain. It’s going to be hard.”

As Johnson trotted off the field and Miles confronted him, Johnson gestured to his eyes inside his facemask.

This is a time-honored lesson every coach tells every player: The second guy always draws the flag.

“I think he felt like he was being attacked, and so he retaliated,” Miles said calmly, before raising his voice to finish. “That’s the way it always is. YOU CAN’T DO IT.”

LSU (7-5) is now saddled with the most losses of any of the 10 BCS champions in the year after the national title.