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Handing out grades from LSU’s 20-13 overtime loss to Alabama.
OFFENSE: C
The Tigers wee able to run the ball relatively well against the best run defense in the SEC, churning out 153 yards. However, it took them 56 carries to get there, an average of 3.3 yards per handoff. Leonard Fournette picked up 79 tough yards, while Anthony Jennings had one of his best rushing performances of the season, with 13 carries for 40 yards, picking up several big first downs. Jennings wasn’t even up to his own mediocre standards throwing the ball, completing just 8-of-26 passes for 76 yards, a touchdown and an interception. However, some of that terrible stat line isn’t all on Jennings; his receivers dropped far too many passes, many of them on third down, and Travin Dural fell down on the interception as Jennings was throwing to a spot. The drops are especially troubling. Trey Quinn, normally a very reliable target, dropped two first down conversions late in the fourth quarter, while Dural and Malachi Dupre both put a couple on the ground.
DEFENSE: B+
While Alabama’s game plan might have something to do with it, LSU forced the Tide into one of their worst offensive games of the year. Blake Sims threw the ball 45 times, a puzzling number for a team that runs the ball well and a defense that has struggled to slow it down at times. LSU held the senior quarterback to 20-of-45 passing and 209 yards, but couldn’t slow him down on the final drive of the game. The Tigers did a good job squashing Alabama’s run game, limiting them to 106 yards and 3.7 yards per carry. Kendell Beckwith and Danielle Hunter led an impressive defensive charge, both making disruptive plays. Lamar Louis, one of LSU’s most underrated players, pulled down T.J. Yeldon and forced a fumble late in the fourth quarter, which Beckwith fell on.
SPECIAL TEAMS: C
LSU got a few nice punt returns from Tre’Davious White, and flipped field position themselves a few times thanks to Jamie Keehn’s foot, pinning Alabama inside its own 20-yard line four times. However, Keehn did shank a punt out of bounds that set the Crimson Tide up for their first touchdown of the game. To make matters worse, kicker Trent Domingue squibbed the kickoff following Colby Delahoussaye’s go-ahead field goal out of bounds, giving Alabama good field position to start their drive to tie the game at the end of regulation.
COACHING: B
There were a few questionable maneuvers, with John Chavis’ decision to have his defensive backs play off of Amari Cooper at the line of scrimmage early being the biggest one. It resulted in several big catches, including Cooper’s touchdown. Les Miles and his staff did everything they could to put LSU in a position to win, though. If not for the drops, the Tigers might have scored enough to win in regulation, while Vadal Alexander’s personal foul penalty late in the fourth quarter seemed to unravel them. It was the game plan that got the Tigers to the edge of victory, execution that knocked them back from it.
OVERALL: B
LSU’s defense was as good as can be right up until Alabama’s last drive of regulation. The offense, while definitely not good, had done just enough to win up to that point as well. A young team unraveled in the final moments against its biggest rival. The Tigers will learn from this one in the future, although it stings in the now.
A former freelance journalist from Philadelphia, Brett has made the trek down to SEC country to cover the greatest conference in college football.
