New coach, new approach.

Same result.

That’s the short summary of LSU’s performance in a 10-0 loss to Alabama on Saturday night at Tiger Stadium. The Tigers were great on defense and anemic (as in 125 yards total) on offense. Even more anemic than last year and almost as bad as the Tigers were in the 21-0 loss in the BCS National Championship Game at the end of 2011 (they had 92 yards that night).

LSU looked so changed under Ed Orgeron … until Alabama. This was a Les Miles-type result.

5 takeaways

1. Offensive personnel upgrades needed: The Alabama game is always a reality check for LSU, and what Saturday night exposed is Alabama’s defensive players are, man-for-man, better than what LSU has on offense. The gap between Alabama’s defensive front seven and the Tigers’ offensive line is obvious.

What makes it stick out more in the Alabama game is the Tigers’ MO is usually to win battles at the line of scrimmage enough to get Leonard Fournette and Derrius Guice loose for big yards, and that sets the dominoes tumbling for the entire offense. Unable to do that against Alabama, the Tigers always stay stuck in the starting block because they also don’t match up at wide receiver or quarterback either.

Other teams that have some success against Alabama don’t depend on dominating the line of scrimmage as much, but instead, have quarterbacks that can extend plays and break down the defense (like Chad Kelly at Ole Miss).

So LSU needs one of two things to get over the Alabama hump: A complete upgrade of offensive line talent or a different offensive approach.

2. The offense didn’t manage the game poorly: While the losing streak against Alabama continued, the Tigers did snap one Crimson Tide streak: Alabama did not score a non-offensive touchdown, snapping a streak of 10 straight games where the Tide scored either with special teams or defense. LSU took care of the ball, with the only turnover coming on a Danny Etling interception in the fourth quarter after LSU had fallen behind.

That’s the only way the offense wasn’t so bad that Alabama was able to blow LSU away. The Tigers didn’t gift wrap anything. But perhaps they should have been a tad more aggressive and taken a few more risks.

3. LSU’s defense dominated Alabama’s offense: This will probably get the ire of Alabama fans, but it’s the truth. LSU’s defense was better than Alabama’s offense.

The Tide ran 70 plays, and 12 of them went backwards and two of them resulted in turnovers. Alabama couldn’t block Lewis Neal up front, and the Tigers lived in the Tide backfield almost as much as Alabama stayed in LSU’s backfield.

Would you say LSU’s defense was as good as Alabama’s? It’s arguable. Certainly, the Tigers’ defense was playing against a better offense than Alabama’s defense was up against.

4. Dwayne Thomas backed up the talk: LSU defensive back Dwayne Thomas raised a stir when he confidently declared that LSU’s defense would dominate Alabama’s offense and the Tigers would break the losing streak.

Well, he was mostly right about the defensive side of the ball, at least. And certainly, he did his part with 9 tackles, 3 for loss, plus a pair of deflected passes and a quarterback hurry. It may have been his best game.

5. If Orgeron gets the job … : If Ed Orgeron gets the head coaching job at LSU, look for some staff changes on offense. He’s a defensive-oriented coach, and between him and Dave Aranda, the Tigers should have no problem continuing to attract elite defensive talent.

But as good of a recruiter as Orgeron is, he’ll need an impact coach on his offensive staff to attract the talent. Or LSU will need an offensive-minded head coach that can do the same.

Report Card

Offense: F — When you only produce 125 yards of offense and don’t score, even when the defense gives you two short fields to work with through turnovers, what other grade can you get?

LSU had more punts (8) than first downs (6), and half the first downs came on one first-half drive. The offensive line was blown out, often getting knocked back into the backfield. Etling was careful, but maybe too careful at quarterback.

And even Fournette, who didn’t have many holes to run through on a 17-carry, 35-yard day, seemed to make too many moves to try to break free. A couple of times, he seemed on the verge of a big play but would get too fancy trying to shake a tackler and seemingly stopped himself.

It looked at times like LSU was out of character. But mostly, they were just overwhelmed by a great defense and didn’t even know how to start to battle back.

Defense: A — Even after managing just 10 points against LSU, Alabama’s vaunted offense leads the SEC in scoring.

That tells you how good the LSU defense was. The only thing the Tigers were guilty of were a couple of breakdowns on 3rd-and-long in the fourth quarter, but those looked like signs of fatigue from a unit that was on the field too long.

Until the fourth quarter, the spread running game for Alabama was pretty much shut down, and the Tide had little more ability to sustain a drive than LSU did. And the Tigers’ defense even set up the offense with short fields twice by forcing Jalen Hurts into turnovers.

LSU’s defense did everything but score itself. In this game, that was the only way LSU was going to score.

Special Teams: C — There isn’t much to complain about, except for two plays: Colby Delahoussaye’s 49-yard field goal that was partially blocked by Alabama’s Ronnie Harrison, and Tre’Davious White’s decision to try to return a punt from his own 3-yard line.

Other than that, the Tigers were solid. Josh Growden was first-rate on punts. The kickoff coverage team stuffed Alabama at its own 14 on the Tigers’ only kickoff, and both White and Donte Jackson (on a kickoff return) had solid returns.

It would have been a pretty good effort but for two plays.

Coaching: B – : Aranda’s defense was pretty well-prepared for everything Lane Kiffin and the Alabama offense threw at them. Yes, Kiffin did dial up some nice plays at key moments, but until the fourth quarter with LSU wearing down, it was never enough to do more than buy a few more plays before the inevitable punt.

On offense, Steve Ensminger’s group did one thing well: They took care of the football and did not give Alabama short fields until late in the game when, finally behind, Etling threw an interception to Minkah Fitzpatrick on a wounded duck created by Harrison’s hit as Etling was throwing the ball.

Besides that, it was disappointing to see no wrinkle that bought the Tigers an explosive play or two. Or maybe Alabama was just that much on point and Tide defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt just deserves a tip of the visor.

In general, LSU may have erred too much on the side of caution, but that’s even debatable. The Tigers took their share of shots down the field but just couldn’t connect.

Overall: B- : This wasn’t a bad game LSU played. The defense was outstanding. The special teams were pretty good. The offense took care of the football.

It just came down to Alabama being better on defense — and played at the top of its game — than LSU is on offense. The Tigers had no answers to a Tide defense playing on point. Did Alabama ever miss a tackle? And was there ever a play where a Tiger receiver was simply left wide open?

I don’t remember one.

Game Plan

On offense, LSU tried to spread the field to extend Alabama’s defense and create seams at the line of scrimmage for Fournette to run through. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the line of scrimmage seemed to move backwards every play making anything but a short passing game unsustainable.

And the short passing game didn’t generate much because Alabama’s secondary was so solid on making the tackle. Seven of Etling’s 11 completions went for 5 yards or less. On many of those, LSU successfully created one-on-one matchups in space, but Alabama’s defenders simply never missed a tackle.

On defense, Aranda masterfully schemed a plan that accounted for Hurts and the running back on the zone-read option while also paying attention to the short, horizontal passes that often come open in that offense. The Tigers challenged Hurts to throw downfield, and when he did, it was mostly ineffective.

This resulted in three quarters of a shutout before the Tigers’ defense wore down.

Game balls

Aranda: The Tigers’ defense was as well-prepared as any defense can be going up against one of the nation’s best offenses. For most of the game, LSU seemed to anticipate every move Kiffin and the Crimson Tide offense was making. Alas, the Tigers’ defense wore out at the end. Still, allowing 10 points should be good enough to beat anybody.

Growden: The redshirt freshman from Australia has gone from a liability early in the season to a strength. He averaged 42 yards, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. He pinned Alabama inside its own 20-yard line on 5 of his 8 punts and never booted a touchback while the Tide managed just one punt return yard.

LBs Kendell Beckwith and Duke Riley: The pair accounted for 25 tackles (16 by Beckwith) and 2.5 tackles for loss. The Alabama zone-read option game was mostly snuffed out by their sure tackling.