Not to make excuses (okay, that's exactly what I'm about to do)...
LSU had nothing to lose, plus they had that 'let's rally around the intern and get him a good start' attitude.
Tennessee had every reason to be overconfident. They seemed lackadaisical and lazy on offense.
Yet somehow it's still a win. Count your blessings and move on.
It's like the USC/Stanford game in football. If USC just hangs on and wins that game, no matter how ugly and inexcusable for it to even be close, they're playing for a national title.