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LSU (7-3, 3-3) pushed Alabama (8-1, 5-1) to the limit on Saturday. The young Tigers even led with less than a minute to go before Alabama rallied to win in overtime. What did we learn from the 20-13 defeat?
- It’s going to be hard to win big games consistently with Anthony Jennings. That is, barring some major improvements from the sophomore in the off-season. Jennings completed far less than 50 percent of his passes (8-of-26, 30.8 percent, 76 yards), which had been a benchmark for him this season. As usual, Jennings dropped in a few dimes, like the touchdown pass to Malachi Dupre, as well as two other near-TDs to the freshman, but he just wasn’t consistent enough with his deliveries to keep the offense moving.
- LSU’s inexperience at receiver hurts. The Tigers lost two top-flight receivers to early entry in the NFL draft last season. As a result, the top three receivers on the team came into the season with a combined 7 career catches. Last night, in the biggest game of the season, those young receivers caught nothing but a case of the drops. Travin Dural, Trey Quinn and Dupre all hand a hand in Jennings’ 8-for-26 passing performance with drops, including several in the fourth quarter that ended drives.
- The defense is ready to compete. It was hard to tell just how good LSU’s defense was two weeks ago in the win against Ole Miss, as the Rebels don’t run the ball well or often. Alabama, for some reason, did not run the ball often either, and they certainly didn’t do it well. The Crimson Tide came in averaging more than 5 yards per carry, and LSU limited them to 3.7 yards a pop. Additionally, they limited Blake Sims to 20-of-45 passing and made him look bad for long stretches of the game. Over three games, LSU has held opponents to 30 points and 645 total yards.
- Vadal Alexander’s penalty swung the momentum. After LSU recovered a fumble inside Alabama’s 10-yard line, they were poised to punch in a touchdown and seal a win. The veteran guard committed a personal foul penalty, one that didn’t sit well with Les Miles. After that, LSU was held to a field goal, Alabama marched down the field in rapid succession for one of their own and Leonard Fournette got blown up on the ensuing kick return. Forcing LSU into that field goal got the entire Alabama sideline fired up and ready roll.
- LSU’s final stretch is going to be brutal. After a very physical game with the Crimson Tide, LSU gets no respite next week when they travel to face Arkansas, coming off a bye. On Thanksgiving, the Tigers have to face Texas A&M, which looked to be back to form against Auburn. After hopes for a sneaky run to the SEC Championship, LSU has a hard road to finish 4-4 in the SEC.
A former freelance journalist from Philadelphia, Brett has made the trek down to SEC country to cover the greatest conference in college football.