Nostalgia filled the air in Tiger Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

LSU honored former defensive lineman Glenn Dorsey for his recent selection as a member of the SEC Football Legends class for 2017.

A cubicle in the Tigers locker room was decorated in honor of Y.A. Tittle, the former LSU and Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback who died six days earlier at age 90.

And at halftime the 2007 national championship team was recognized on the field.

Then the 2017 team managed an improbable comeback that will be the subject of nostalgic reflection for years to come.

LSU fell behind No. 10 Auburn, 17-0, before the first quarter was over and the Tigers were barely fogging the mirror after the deficit grew to 20-0.

Russell Gage Jr. ran 70 yards to set up Stephen Sullivan’s 1-yard touchdown run on fourth down, and Gage added a diving touchdown catch that made the halftime deficit more manageable at 23-14.

While embattled coach Ed Orgeron was trying to fix things in the locker room, dozens of members of the 2007 title game took the field to loud applause.

The crowd offered its loudest roar when former coach Les Miles, who coincidentally was fired after the loss against Auburn last year, was introduced.

Miles held out the crystal football that the 2007 Tigers won, much as he famously held it out from the balcony of a French Quarter hotel in the wee hours after LSU won the title.

That Tigers team had quickly fallen behind Ohio State, 10-0, before roaring back for a 38-24 victory.

But this team has no defensive lineman of Dorsey’s caliber, certainly no quarterback in Tittle’s league and nowhere near the overall depth and talent of the 2007 team.

Nonetheless, something changed with this team after the recognition of LSU’s most recent and third-ever national-championship team.

This year’s team, which had been pushed around in a 37-7 loss to Mississippi State in its SEC opener and suffered the embarrassment of a 24-21 loss to Troy of all people on this same field just two weeks earlier, came out for the second half transformed like Popeye the Sailor Man after quaffing a can of spinach.

The defense didn’t allow a single point after halftime. The Tigers didn’t score in the third quarter and the offense never reached the end zone in the second half, but D.J. Chark went all Billy Cannon just 17 days before Halloween and seven days before the game against Ole Miss, returning a punt 75 yards for a touchdown that brought the stadium to life unlike it had been at any point this season.

Then Connor Culp, one of LSU’s two beleaguered kickers, drilled a 42-yard field goal for the lead and nailed a 36-yarder for a tiny cushion.

The defense made it stand up and the Tigers prevailed 27-23. Afterward, Orgeron, whose first full season in his dream job has been a bumpy ride to a 5-2 record (2-1 in the SEC), said the afternoon was “everything you dream about with LSU football.”

Strange things do happen in Tiger Stadium, especially when Miles is hanging around.

This was LSU’s first win against a Top 10 team since beating No. 3 Ole Miss in 2014.

It was the first victory by an unranked Tigers team over a Top-10 opponent since 1995 (also against Auburn, then No. 5).

And the 20-point deficit was the largest one LSU has overcome to win in Tiger Stadium since 1949.

But stuff like that is only supposed to happen at night.

This game kicked off in the middle of the afternoon and the sun hadn’t quite set when it ended.

That’ll just add to the lore when this game is inevitably recalled years from now.