GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – Meet the LSU football team under the new boss … same as the old boss.
That’s from The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” but LSU was fooled again, losing at No. 4 Alabama, 20-9, at Bryant-Denny Stadium Saturday night, and nothing looked very new under new interim head coach Frank Wilson.
Wilson made his debut two weeks after replacing fired head coach Brian Kelly, and little changed.
LSU (5-4, 2-4 Southeastern Conference) lost its third straight game and looked flat and uninspired for the most part, other than some spirited play in the first quarter.
Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier and the Tigers also again failed to convert in the red zone for touchdowns time and again, and backup quarterback Michael Van Buren replaced Nussmeier with 6:26 to play in the third quarter with LSU down 17-6. But he could not shake the same curse.
“I thought we played hard. I thought we competed, but it was not good enough,” Wilson said, then repeated a phrase made infamous by another old boss – three coaches ago.
“So, we finished second,” Wilson said as Les Miles used to after losses.
“We have to score touchdowns, not just field goals,” Wilson said. “We’ll continue to try to. We’ll look at what we’re doing in that area – again – to see what suits us best.”
Wilson wearily said “again,” because Kelly had spoken about red zone issues after most games this season.
LSU’s RED ZONE TWILIGHT TIME
It’s almost like opposing defenses light up when LSU nears its goal line, as was the case Saturday:
-LSU drove to the Crimson Tide 13-yard line on its first drive of the game … but Damian Ramos had to try a 30-yard field goal, and he missed it.
-The Tigers reached the Alabama 27-yard line in the second quarter … but Ramos had to kick a 37-yard field goal for a 3-3 tie.
-LSU, trailing 17-3 at the half, took the third quarter kickoff to the Alabama 9-yard line … but Nussmeier and company went backwards and eventually faced a 4th-and-27 from the Alabama 27 and settled for a 44-yard field goal by Ramos and a 17-6 deficit.
-Van Buren drove the Tigers to a 1st-and-Goal inside the 10-yard line early in the fourth quarter after an 11-yard completion to wide receiver Chris Hilton Jr. and a 19-yard hook-up with wide receiver Barion Brown to the 7-yard line. Like Nussmeier before him, though, Van Buren ran backwards under pressure and got sacked for a 10-yard loss by defensive tackle LT Overton, who was actually on his knees when he made the stop.
LSU settled again for a field goal – this one from 37 yards away by Ramos for a 17-9 deficit with 10:28 to play. But the Tigers would get no closer.
“You’ve got to execute when you get down there,” LSU center Braelin Moore said. “Teams have been changing their coverages and their blitz packages when we get in the red zone. We’ve struggled to pick that up.”
Alabama (8-1, 6-0 SEC) took its 20-9 lead with 4:25 to play on a 44-yard field goal by Conor Talty.
Van Buren, a starter at Mississippi State last season who has played little this year, replaced the struggling Nussmeier after LSU settled for the field goal and 17-6 deficit to open the third quarter. This was after yet another failed red zone opportunity and featured Nussmeier doing most of the talking on the sideline afterwards to Wilson, which was the case two weeks ago with Nussmeier and Kelly in the 49-25 loss at home to Texas A&M.
Wilson then appeared to be chewing out Nussmeier good after replacing him, but Nussmeier did not appear to be listening. The scene was nearly an exact duplicate of Kelly and Nussmeier two weeks ago in the A&M game.
LSU Head Coach Frank Wilson letting QB Garrett Nussmeier have it.
— Lonn Phillips Sullivan (@LonnPhillips) November 9, 2025
LSU VS ALABAMA Postgame Show Will Start in the 4th Quarter👇https://t.co/DF62Fc7Ivk 🎞 ©️ ESPN / ABC pic.twitter.com/2SiVSdDd1D
“He’s a warrior,” Wilson said of his exchanges with Nussmeier. “He wanted to stay in the game.”
Nussmeier had driven LSU to a 1st-and-Goal at the Alabama 9-yard line with the third quarter kickoff on his last series, completing a 16-yard pass to wide receiver Nic Anderson and one of 20 yards to wide receiver Zavion Thomas. But once in the touchdown zone, he and LSU went backwards.
After a delay of game penalty for five yards, Nussmeier was animated with Wilson and receivers coach Cortez Hankton during a timeout. Wilson listened to Nussmeier, then got on the headphones with run game coordinator Alex Atkins, who is calling plays now for the first time since he was offensive coordinator at North Carolina-Charlotte in 2019. He did not call plays while offensive line coach and coordinator at Florida State from 2020-24. Maybe this was what Nussmeier was upset about.
Wilson said there were no issues with getting the plays onto the field. Nussmeier was not at the postgame interviews.
The timeout in this case did no good. On 3rd-and-13 from the Alabama 13, Nussmeier ran backwards under pressure and right into a sack for a 14-yard loss. Ramos booted a 44-yard field goal to cut Alabama’s lead to 17-6 with 8:54 to play, and Nussmeier was done for the night. He finished 18-of-21 passing for an .857 completion percentage but for just 121 yards (a 5.8-yard average) and zero touchdowns.
Van Buren completed 5 of 11 passes for 52 yards.
Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson, meanwhile shredded LSU’s secondary for 277 yards on 21-of-35 passing and a touchdown. In the first half, the junior first-year starter completed 12 of 20 passes for 199 yards with a 13-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Ryan Williams with 22 seconds left in the first half for the 17-3 advantage. He averaged 10 yards a completion in the first half. Nussmeier completed more with 13 out of 15 attempts , but just for 76 yards and a 5.1-yard average.
LSU did appear to play more physical in the early going and did pick a fight, so to speak, with the Tide as Wilson promised. But its fist swung and missed wide left.
“We’re going to pick a fight” at Alabama, new LSU coach Frank Wilson says:https://t.co/l1QfbXF4AS
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) November 7, 2025
The Tigers stuffed Alabama on 3rd-and-1 and 4th-and-1 runs from the LSU 39-yard line on Alabama’s first possession of the game. The Tigers then in turn drove 48 yards in nine pays with starting freshman running back Harlem Berry gaining 12 yards up the middle before Nussmeier completed three straight passes to wide receivers – Nic Anderson for 16, Aaron Anderson for nine and Brown for 10 to the Alabama 17-yard line.
But, as was the case in the previous eight games under previous head coach and offensive coordinator Joe Sloan, the drive hit stop in the red zone. Then Damian Ramos missed a 30-yard field goal wide left.
The spirited LSU defense then forced a three-and-out possession from the Tide. On 3rd-and-6 from his 11-yard line, Nussmeier hit tight end Bauer Sharp over the middle for 13 yards and a first down, but linebacker Nikhai Hill-Green perfectly punched the ball out of Sharp’s cradle and recovered it at the LSU 24-yard line.
Alabama went backwards for -2 yards in three plays, and Talty put Alabama ahead 3-0 with 1:20 to play in the first quarter on a 45-yard field goal.
LSU tied it 3-3 on a 37-yard field goal by Ramos with 12:27 to go before halftime after a 37-yard run by Berry to the Alabama 28, but once again the offense stalled.
Alabama finally dented the LSU defense with a 75-yard drive in seven plays as Simpson found tight end Josh Cuevas for 32 yards to the Tigers’ 24-yard line. After pass interference against LSU cornerback P.J. Woodland put the ball on the 4-yard line, running back Daniel Hill scored from there with 9:25 to go in the second quarter.
The Tide could have gone up 13-7, but Talty missed a 26-yard field goal at the 2:28 mark after a 51-yard drive in eight plays.
But Alabama made up for it just before the end of the half when Simpson found Williams for the 13-yard touchdown and the 17-3 lead just before halftime, finishing a 66-yard drive in just three plays and 34 seconds. The play before the touchdown, Simpson completed a 53-yard pass to wide receiver Lotzeir Brooks, who beat Woodland.
Everything seemed so hauntingly familiar.
And it makes one wonder if Kelly and Sloan watched the game over beers at Kelly’s LSU Lakes pad near campus, telling one another, “I’ve seen this movie before.”
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