Alabama walked into Saturday night with plenty of noise swirling around it, and the Crimson Tide answered with a performance that looked nothing like an overrated team. Behind a fourth-quarter surge and a defense that kept LSU out of rhythm when it mattered most, Alabama rolled to a 31-13 win and moved to 7-2.
The game stayed tight through the first half, with Alabama carrying a 10-3 lead into the break. LSU then made things interesting after halftime, grabbing a 13-10 advantage with 2:44 left in the third quarter when Dilin Jones punched in a 5-yard touchdown run.
That lead didn’t last long. Keelon Russell took over with a drive that flipped the game back in Alabama’s favor.
He connected with Rico Scott for 58 yards, then finished the march with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Josh Ford. Russell was at his best in the second half, throwing three touchdowns in a span of just over nine minutes of game time between the third and fourth quarters.
While the offense delivered the knockout blows, Alabama’s defense did plenty of heavy lifting too. Led by DC Kane Wommack, the Crimson Tide repeatedly came up with stops in the red zone and on fourth down. LSU did pile up 380 passing yards with Sam Leavitt at quarterback, but Alabama also forced two turnovers and kept the Tigers from turning yardage into enough points.
For a team that heard all week about being overrated, this was the kind of response that shuts people up fast.
And with Vanderbilt, Chattanooga, and Auburn left on the regular-season schedule, Alabama has positioned itself well for the stretch run and a possible College Football Playoff berth.
In Other News...
Alabama Stayed In The SEC Hunt Thanks To One Huge Return
Alabama left Tiger Stadium with a result that mattered far more than the yardage chart suggested, beating LSU 31-13 to move to 7-2 overall and 5-2 in the SEC. Even while getting outgained and losing the first-down battle, the Crimson Tide leaned on a defense that repeatedly bent without breaking, holding LSU to one touchdown and two field goals while coming up with key fourth-down stops that kept the game from tilting.
Ryan Coleman-Williams gave the offense the kind of spark that can change a November race, returning from injury and making an impact in the return game before adding a touchdown run. With the win, Alabama kept itself squarely in the SEC hunt and strengthened its College Football Playoff position, the kind of payoff that can make a tough road night feel a lot bigger than the final score alone. [Read more 🡒]
Alabamas SEC Title Path Now Runs Through A Messy Tiebreaker Race
With three weeks left in the SEC regular season, Alabamas path to Atlanta is starting to look less like a simple race and more like a math problem. The latest look at the conference standings lays out how the Crimson Tide and Georgia can still control the title game picture, but it also shows how much depends on the results of the games still ahead and the order in which the league sorts out ties.
If Georgia wins out, the second spot in the SEC championship game could come down to a tiebreaker chain involving Alabama, Tennessee, Texas and Kentucky, with several scenarios still alive depending on how the remaining schedule breaks. An unofficial SEC tiebreaker simulator is helping map out those possibilities, but for Alabama the larger point is clear enough: the Tide can still get there, even if the route now runs through a messy set of assumptions and a few results they will not control. [Read more 🡒]
Alabama Just Turned Its LSU Win Into A Bigger Playoff Debate
Kevin Costners appearance on the Tiger Walk before LSUs 31-13 loss to Alabama added a little Hollywood sheen to an already high-stakes Saturday in Tuscaloosa. Paul Finebaum even weighed in on Costner being there alongside Lane Kiffin, but once the game kicked off, the Crimson Tide made the biggest statement of all by controlling the moments that mattered most.
Alabamas defense kept turning LSU away on fourth down, and the Tigers finished 0 for 4 in those situations while struggling to cash in on scoring chances. For Alabama, the win did more than settle a rivalry game in the moment, it pushed the playoff conversation a little louder, with the Tide looking more and more like a team built for November pressure. [Read more 🡒]