Saturday turned into another disappointing loss for LSU at the hands of Alabama.

The Tigers headed into a tough matchup and put up an admirable performance in the game. The LSU defense did all it could and limited a Crimson Tide offense that had been unstoppable for much of the season.

LSU was able to out gain the Tide while controlling time of possession, but the Tigers could not score at crucial moments in the game.

Alabama won by a final score of 24-10, but head coach Ed Orgeron expressed pride in his players’ performance on Monday while going against one of the toughest running teams he’s faced:

“Guys did a tremendous job of going toe-to-toe in the trenches,” said Orgeron. He pointed to Alabama’s 3.2 yards per carry as one statistic that illustrated how well the Tigers front played.

When asked about recruiting, Coach O said he felt the program is very close to where it needs to be in order to compete with Alabama and others:

“We’re a couple players away,” said Orgeron. “With another recruiting class, we feel that we’re gonna compete with them and anybody else in the SEC.”

One position in particular that hampered the Tigers Saturday was at quarterback. Starting QB Danny Etling was ineffective for much of the game while completing 12 of 26 passes for 137 yards and an interception. Etling was pulled late for freshman QB Myles Brennan who completed 3 of 5 passes for 18 yards.

Oregeron was asked if there was a possibility of playing Brennan more moving forward, but he quickly dismissed the notion:

“No, that’s not fair. We’ll play Danny,” Orgeron said. “Danny’s our starting QB, Danny’s done a good job for us…Myles would have to beat Danny out play-by-play in practice, he’d have to play better than him in a game…I would not give Myles the starting job just to get ready for next year. We’ve got a lot to play for.”

The loss to Alabama will sting as the Tigers came up just short in another big game, but there is no time to ponder what could have been.

LSU will prepare for another rivalry game Saturday when the team takes on Arkansas at home. Kickoff against the Razorbacks is set for 12 pm EST on ESPN.