Jalen Hurts looked hard for an open receiver, but unlike a number of past Alabama quarterbacks, he’s far from being a statue in the pocket.

When no one was open, he darted down the field, deftly avoiding NFL-caliber defenders, shooting through narrow holes to score the only touchdown of the game, a 21-yard run in the fourth quarter.

In hindsight, that was all the scoring Alabama really needed to pick up a win against LSU because the Alabama defense held the Tigers scoreless.

Hurts’ second half started with a bang. When the game was still scoreless, Hurts completed a 52-yard pass to ArDarius Stewart, by far his best throw of the game. In fact, the completion was Alabama’s first offensive play after the break, coming on the heels of the Alabama defense forcing a three-and-out. Hurts’ completion moved the ball from Alabama’s own 40-yard line to the LSU 8-yard line.

Alabama made it as close as the 1-yard line, and many teams would have gone for the short field goal on 4th-and-goal in such a defensive struggle, but Alabama chose to go for it. Not surprisingly, the team elected to put the ball in the hands of Hurts. As had been the case during the first half, Hurts’ timing was a little off. Alabama’s offense tried to go up-tempo, but it backfired in a 5-yard loss.

While it’s true the drive left Alabama with no points on the board, it opened up the defense by forcing them to respect Hurts’ ability to throw the ball.

Hurts has a way of rising to the occasion. In particular, he seems to thrive on adversity.

Against Ole Miss, he took a vicious shot from Marquis Haynes, forcing a fumble that resulted in an Ole Miss touchdown that gave the Rebels a 24-3 lead. On the ensuing drive, Hurts immediately hit Calvin Ridley for 22 yards then scampered 22 yards on his own en route to a 50-yard TD drive.

A similar result occurred against LSU. After Hurts gave up what might have been a costly fumble, Alabama’s defense pushed the LSU offense back nine yards before Hurts led the lone touchdown drive of the game. It was a 90-yard drive eating up close to six minute of game clock.

During that decisive drive, Hurts made another long completion, a 22-yard gain to tight end Miller Forristall. Later on 3rd-and-9 at the LSU 21, Hurts rolled out to his right and seeing no open receivers, he let his instincts guide him. He made several LSU defenders miss, chief among them senior linebacker Kendell Beckwith as he took it 21 yards for a score.

Hurts more or less sealed the game on the next Alabama offensive drive. Again, the defense made a big stop when Ryan Anderson made a quarterback hit, resulting in an interception by Minkah Fitzpatrick.

Facing 3rd-and-15 at the LSU 40-yard line, Hurts ran a designed quarterback draw, a play designed to get Alabama into field goal position. Five minutes later, Alabama was kicking a field goal from a much closer distance because Hurts picked up 23 yards on the play.

Hurts picked up a few extra yards when defensive back Donte Jackson was unable to tackle him near the sideline and Hurts kept the play alive. His vision and tenacity on that run, and a subsequent 11-yard gain on a 3rd-and-9, helped the team milk a whopping 10 minutes off the clock.

These three, second-half offensive drives showed why for all of his flaws — an INT, a fumble, missing open receivers — Alabama is more than happy to have Hurts guiding the offense.

Cooper Bateman was the preseason favorite because he’s the prototypical game managing quarterback Alabama has seen under center in the past.

But Hurts, while he can and will grow as a passer, has tools more unique to the Tide that help Alabama win games, even against a great defense like LSU in a hostile environment like Tiger Stadium.