By MARY FOSTER
AP Sports Writer
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – Kentucky used a lot of firepower and a little bit oftrickery to beat LSU on Saturday night.
Quentin McCord surprised LSU with a 38-yard run on an end-around, setting upSeth Hanson’s 33-yard field goal as time expired that gave Kentucky a 39-36upset of the 21st-ranked Tigers.
Kentucky (5-2 overall, 2-2 Southeastern Conference) faced third-and-12 atits 24 with a minute to play and appeared content to settle for a 36-36 tie anda chance to decide the game in overtime.
But Tim Couch, who passed for 391 yards and three touchdowns, was onlylulling the Tigers to sleep.
“LSU thought we were running the clock out and we faked the ball up themiddle,” Couch said. “They bit on it and McCord was able to get around themiddle.”
Couch faked a handoff into the line, kept the ball on his hip and handed itto McCord, who circled left end and cut back to the middle before being stoppedat the LSU 38. A face-mask penalty was assessed on the tackle, moving the ballto the 33, and Kentucky drove to the 16 to set up Hanson’s kick with threeseconds to play.
LSU coach Gerry DiNardo said the Tigers weren’t taken by surprise.
“I called a timeout to make them make another call and then go fromthere,” DiNardo said. “I thought they would go for overtime. As soon as wesaw the formation, we knew it was the reverse. We called the defense for therun on the play. We were in good shape. But the guy who was supposed to makethe play got pinned, he turned his back, and didn’t make a very smart play.”
Couch, who was 37-of-50 with one interception, threw three touchdown passesin the third quarter as the Wildcats built a 36-22 lead over the Tigers (3-3,1-2).
“This gets the monkey off our backs, with people saying we can’t beat agood team, a ranked opponent on the road,” Kentucky coach Hal Mumme said.”For our program, it’s a huge win.”
The last time Kentucky beat a ranked team on the road was 1977, when apowerful Kentucky team that finished 10-1 mauled LSU 33-13 at Baton Rouge.
Herb Tyler rallied LSU in the fourth quarter, running for two touchdowns toforge a 36-36 tie. He was 15-of-26 for 268 yards and threw for two TDs.
It was the third straight loss for LSU, ending the Tigers’ hopes of winningthe SEC West title.
Although Couch had his seventh straight 300-yard game of the year, he was byno means the entire offensive show for Kentucky. The Wildcats showed asurprisingly strong ground game, outgaining LSU 182 yards to 74. Anthony Whitehad TD runs of 2 and 1 yards and the Wildcats got two points on a conversionreturn by Eric Kelley to lead 16-13 at halftime.
Couch threw TD passes of 15 and 5 yards to Craig Yeast and 6 yards to JamesWhalen as Kentucky built a 14-point lead in the third quarter. LSU kept withinreach on Tyler’s 42-yard touchdown throw to Larry Foster, then got even in thefourth quarter on Tyler’s TD runs of 3 and 16 yards.
