Tide Rises to Sink LSU in OT

Top ranked Alabama survives LSU, 27-21.

by Matt Deville
Tiger Rag Senior Editor

(At left, Demetrius Byrd (Photo by Steve Franz/LSU)

Box Score

It lived up to its advanced billing – and then some.

The highly anticipated return of Nick Saban to Tiger Stadium was everything it was supposed to be. Shrouded in hype and emotion, a 60-minute contest wouldn’t be enough time to settle the issue.

But in the end, Saban prevailed and Tiger fans sat stunned as No. 1 Alabama held off 15th-ranked LSU 27-21 before a crowd of 93,039, the largest crowd in Tiger Stadium history.

Gridlocked at 21-21, Alabama’s Leigh Tiffin lined up for a 30-yard field goal with three seconds remaining in regulation. The snap and placement was clean, but LSU’s Ricky Jean-Francois got a paw on the ball blocking the kick and setting off a raucous celebration as the game moved to overtime.

Unfortunately, Tiger quarterback Jarrett Lee threw his fourth interception of the game on third down and six from the 21. Lee was looking for Brandon LaFell in the end zone, but the ball was thrown into double coverage and Reshad Johnson came down with his third interception of the game.

“I saw him (Lee) rollout and we brought a blitz to pull him up because they had been running that play a lot in the second half,” Johnson said. “It was a great play call by us to blitz him on that side so he couldn’t get all the way out and throw the out route like he normally does. Then he was looking for his receiver on that side and just overthrew him.”

In all, Lee threw four completions to the Tide defense, one of which was returned 54 yards for a touchdown by Johnson in the second quarter. It was Lee’s sixth pick-six of the season.

Only needing a field goal to win, Alabama quarterback John Parker Wilson connected with Julio Jones on first down and the freshman wrestled his way 24 yards to the one yard line. Two plays later, Wilson scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak giving Alabama a dramatic victory.

“I’d like to say the game is about the players and it was a great college football game,” Saban said afterwards. “The players on both sides played their hearts out. LSU’s team played an outstanding game. Our players played hard in the game with a lot of tenacity and overcame a lot of adversity.”

For LSU (6-3, 3-3 SEC), the loss was especially tough considering the Tigers led most of the first half and overcame countless turnovers to come up just short of beating the top-ranked team in the nation.

“This one is bitter,” said LSU coach Les Miles. “It’s painful.”

While Alabama (10-0, 6-0) retained its No. 1 ranking with the six-point victory, the Tide was far from impressive in victory.

Alabama turned the ball over three times (two fumbles and an interception) and surrendered the most rushing yards of the season. The Tide was ranked second in the nation against the run giving up just 65 yards per game on the ground. LSU ripped the Bama defense for 201 stripes in the game, led by Charles Scott’s 92 yards on 24 carries and a pair of rushing touchdowns. Coming into the game, Alabama had only given up one rushing touchdown this season.

“My hats off to our players and the way they competed, but I wasn’t really pleased with the way we played in the first half,” Saban said. “We turned the ball over three times and missed a field goal. Defensively we didn’t play the run very well.”

LSU posted its best defensive performance of the season and the Tiger running game continues to show it is the best on the SEC. However, Lee’s ineffectiveness in the passing game was inevitably the Tigers undoing. The redshirt freshman completed just 13 of 34 passes for 181 yards and a touchdown. But four interceptions proved to be too much for the Tigers to overcome.

“I think he can play better than he played today,” Miles said of Lee. “I thought he did give his team a chance to win though.”

Three of Lee’s four interceptions set up Alabama touchdowns, most notably the one returned for a score by Johnson.

“I thought we fought hard down to the buzzer,” Lee said “We had a great week at practice. It’s unfortunate that it didn’t work out for us. We are going to move forward and keep our heads up.”

With the win, Alabama clinched the SEC Western Division title. With remaining games left against Miss. State and Auburn, the Tide locked up a berth in the SEC Championship game on the first Saturday of December and kept its opportunity to play for a national championship alive. Alabama will play Florida in Atlanta for the SEC crown.

LSU won the coin toss and deferred to the second half.

Putting its faith in the defense, LSU struggled to slow the Tide as Alabama drove 43 yards to the Tiger 30 in just four plays. Wilson then hooked up with Earl Alexander, who broke free and appeared to be on his for a Tide touchdown.

However, a streaking Chad Jones swatted the ball out of Alexander’s grasp and the ball bounded through the end zone for a touchback.

LSU dodged a bullet and got the ball at the 20 giving its offense a chance to strike first.

But after two running plays lost two yards and a motion penalty set up third and 17 from the LSU 13, Lee threw the first of a quartet of interceptions. The ball was bobbled by Demetrius Byrd on a crossing route and Johnson came up with the pick at the Tiger 15.
“He (Lee) is a redshirt freshman and he’ll learn as the years go on how to adjust to different things,” Johnson said afterwards of LSU’s quarterback.

Four plays later, Wilson punched it in on third and goal from the one.

After the play Wilson chose to taunt the LSU student section with a phone gesture similar to that of Tim Tebow last season and Knowshon Moreno two weeks ago. Wilson’s cell phone had been inundated with nasty messages from Tiger fans throughout the week much like Tebow’s and Moreno’s in the past.

However, Wilson’s antics drew a 15-yard penalty, which was assessed on the kickoff.

LSU took advantage of great field position, plus used a 31-yard Keiland Williams kickoff return to set up shop at the Tiger 45. Lee opened the march with a 12-yard pass to Byrd and culminated the drive with another, the latter covering 30 yards for a game-tying touchdown.

With the game tied 7-7, the Tigers got opportunistic on special teams forcing a Javier Arenas fumble on the ensuing kickoff, which LSU recovered at the Bama 30.

Two plays later, Scott bolted through the heart of the Crimson Tide defense and rumbled 30 yards for a 14-7 lead.

It was only the second time this season Alabama had trailed in a game, the first being a 1:10 period in the first quarter of the Kentucky game.

LSU appeared ready to carry the seven-point lead into the half, but Lee’s second interception of the game was returned 54 yards for a Tide touchdown by Johnson.

“That’s part of football,” Lee said of the tough loss. “You have to bounce back from losses like this. We are going to bounce back because we have a lot of football still to play.”

The teams traded three and outs before LSU mounted a late drive that penetrated Alabama territory as deep as the 23. But two straight incompletions by Lee led to a 41-yard field goal attempt by Colt David, which sailed wide left.

The score was tied 14-14 at the half.

“I think he can play better than he played today, simply put. I thought that he gave his team a chance to win,” Miles said of Lee. “He’s a redshirt freshman. He’s taking snaps and playing competitively against a team that we need to catch the ball and make some plays through the air.”

The Tide stepped it up on the defensive side of the ball in the third quarter as LSU’s first two possessions netted just nine yards.

Then midway through the third, Alabama engineered its only scoring drive of length in the game, bolstered by the hard running of Glenn Coffee.

Coffee carried the ball five times for 39 yards, caught a pass for 11 yards and capped off the drive with a three-yard scoring run. Intermingled in the many plays featuring Coffee was a 19-yard pass to Jones.

The true freshman Jones played a huge role in the Tide’s offensive success as he grabbed seven passes for 128 yards.

Alabama clung to a 21-14 lead late in the fourth quarter before the LSU offense finally put it all together. The Tigers used a balanced attack to drive 74 yards on 14 plays tying the score with a one-yard Scott touchdown plunge.

Alabama, however, wasn’t going away.

Arenas gave the Tide excellent field position at the Bama 37 with 6:05 left in the game. Alabama used a steady of dose Coffee to drive to the LSU 32 with less than four minutes left in the game. Wilson broke free on a 32-yard run and appeared to get into the end zone for the go-ahead score, but the run was nullified by a holding penalty.

The Tide ended up punting the ball away and LSU took over with 2:58 remaining in regulation. A three and out led to a Tiger punt, which Arenas returned 23 yards to the LSU 41.

The Tide ran seven plays, driving the ball to the Tigers 12 before Alabama called a timeout setting up Tiffin’s 29-yard attempt, which was blocked by Jean-Francois.

Lee finished 13-of-34 passing for 181 yards with one touchdown and four costly interceptions. Brandon LaFell led LSU with 74 yards on four catches, while Demetrius Byrd added 51 yards and a touchdown.

Keiland Williams added 88 yards on 13 carries.

Wilson kept the Tide in the game but certainly didn’t win the game for Alabama. The senior completed 15-of-31 passes for 215 yards with an interception.

Running back Glen Coffee was the workhorse for the Alabama offense, running 26 times for 126 yards and a touchdown. Wilson ran for two 1-yard touchdowns.