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Les Miles didn't know whether to be angry or giddy.
He had promised several times before to fix the LSU offense's recurring problems with clock management - issues that have spanned several seasons and which last year left the Tigers with one of the most mystifying and talked about losses in school history against rival Mississippi.
And yet, here were the 12th-ranked Tigers on Saturday, looking lost while more than 20 seconds ticked off during a third-and-goal from the 1 in the final half-minute of regulation. It was a debacle in the making until Tennessee got caught with too many defenders on the field during a play the Tigers completely botched.
That gave LSU (5-0, 3-0 SEC) the reprieve it needed to remain unbeaten as the Tigers head to Florida on Saturday.
''It eats at you and still does,'' Miles said, adding that he was embarrassed by the final, frantic, time-wasting sequence of plays. ''This team has got to play better than it played. They should have never come down to the back end of this game as tight as it was.''
Then the coach's face brightened as he thought of Stevan Ridley's powerful run that lifted the Tigers to their bizarre 16-14 win on an untimed down made possible by Tennessee's penalty.
''As an experience, I'm going to enjoy that one, as much as I hate to admit it,'' Miles said.
Miles described the wacky conclusion as ''something that I don't know that I've ever seen in my entire life.
''They just called (Tennessee) the winner, and then, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, come on back here, and then they called us the winner.''
That of course, didn't answer the question of why LSU didn't have a second play called in the event a second-down option play from the 2 - on which Jefferson was stopped on the 1 - didn't result in a score.
''It was a difficult scenario to get the two plays called,'' Miles said.
LSU had already burned its timeouts, in part because play calls were coming in from the sideline late all game.
That same issue contributed to a delay-of-game call on a fourth-and-9 earlier on that final drive. The blunder presented LSU with a do-or-die, fourth-and-14 that backup Jarrett Lee executed with a 21-yard pass to Terrence Toliver.
LSU might not have gotten off a final play in regulation if not for a desperation shotgun snap by center T-Bob Hebert, who saw the final seconds melting away and zipped the ball back to Jordan Jefferson before the quarterback called for it. Hebert was mindful of how a potential winning drive last year at Ole Miss stalled on the Rebels' 5-yard line as time ran out, with the Tigers down by less than a field goal.
Although the snap got off this time, Jefferson mishandled it and tried to fall on the ball as Tennessee players piled on him. It looked like the game was over, but a flag had been thrown in the end zone, and the Volunteers' celebrations came to an abrupt end when officials said the penalty was on Tennessee. That gave LSU another shot from the 1.
When Ridley scored, LSU players celebrated on the field, but the moods turned somber in the locker room when Miles chastised them for a mistake-filled performance that included four turnovers (and a minus-4 turnover differential) and nine penalties for 54 yards.
''This team's got to play better,'' Miles said.
Senior linebacker Kelvin Sheppard said afterward that team leaders had called a players-only meeting for Sunday.
''We can't keep playing like this too much longer,'' receiver Rueben Randle said. ''We are in the meat of our schedule now. We absolutely have to start playing better together as an offensive unit or it is going to start costing us games. ... The problems seem to be the same each and every week - lack of execution and penalties. We are killing ourselves and that is stopping productive drives. That has to stop.''
One key change Miles made to address the offense's woeful passing attack was to insert Lee for more meaningful snaps. Jefferson had thrown for fewer than 100 yards and no TDs in each of the previous three games. Playing only about half the snaps against Tennessee, Lee threw for 185 yards, including a 47-yard completion to Randle. That convinced Miles that Lee - plagued by 16 interceptions as a freshman in 2008 - was ready to be a regular part of the offense again.
''We need to play both quarterbacks,'' Miles said.
Now LSU's schedule gets tougher. Beyond this Saturday's game in The Swamp, LSU's remaining road games include trips to Auburn and Arkansas. The Tigers will host top-ranked Alabama on Nov. 6.
''Our team needs to play better. I take that to heart. Our guys need to not play sloppy,'' Miles said. ''I promise you this: they'll hear my raunchy side Monday morning.''
