Led by the LSU "military band" and the cadet corps, 4,000 fans streamed out of seven Illinois Central special trains in Birmingham Saturday morning, November 14, on their way to Legion Field to watch their 6-0-1 gridders ranked #7 in the first year of the Associated Press national poll, tackle the 5-1-1 Auburn Plainsmen, who were undefeated in conference play.

Fans looked to forward to watching some of the best halfbacks in the South, including Auburn's Billy Hitchcock and LSU's Pat Coffee and Pinky Rohm. All eyes would also be on LSU's All-America E Gaynell Tinsley.

A crowd of 25,000, the largest to witness a gridiron duel in the Southeastern Conference that season, saw LSU take a big step toward defending their conference title from 1935. Tiger fans also dreamed of a Rose Bowl invitation.

After a scoreless first quarter, LSU drove 73y behind the line crashing of FB Bill Crass and Rohm and a 27y pass from Crass to Rohm. Pinky dashed around end for 15y to put the ball on the two. On the second play, Rock Reed, another in Coach Bernie Moore's deep stable of running backs, lunged over right guard into the end zone. The extra point try failed, and LSU led at halftime 6-0.

The score stayed the same through the third quarter. Then lightning struck on the third play of the final period. With the ball on the LSU 10, HB Guy "Cotton" Milner, a blond-haired sophomore from Alexandria LA, darted through a hole at left tackle. Then he cut back sharply to the right and raced into the clear down the middle of the field. Fleet Auburn S John Paul Tipper, subbing for the weary Hitchcock, started gaining on Milner and seemed destined to make the tackle at the Auburn 25. But suddenly out of nowhere came Tinsley sprinting right behind Milner. Gaynell turned and cut down Tipper with a great block that not only spilled the Auburn safety but slowed up Bobbie Blake who had joined the chase. That enabled Milner to complete the 90y touchdown untouched.

After three quick pass interceptions, the Bayou Bengals drove 76y for the clinching score. They were aided by a 25y slugging penalty on Auburn that placed the ball on the Plainsmen's 25. Coffee and Milner gained a first down on the 14. Three plays later, Coffee faked a reverse, then threw a flat pass to Tinsley, who took the ball between a pair of defenders on the two and stepped over the goal line. Coffee booted the extra point to make it 20-0.

Auburn opened up its passing attack to drive 71y against LSU reserves to avoid a shutout, but it was too little too late. The touchdown with 13 seconds left was just the second scored on LSU in conference play.

Final score: LSU 19 Auburn 6

As the game ended, the entire LSU cadet corps rushed onto the field and carried their heroes off on their shoulders.

LSU would finish the regular season with a 6-6 deadlock at Texas as the only blemish. They won the Southeastern Conference crown with a 6-0 record. Their #2 ranking didn't earn a Rose Bowl bid, but they did go to the Sugar Bowl.