It wasn’t pretty, but it didn’t need to be. The changes made to LSU’s staff did nothing to spark a lifeless offense.
LSU turned it over twice and benched starting quarterback Garrett Nussmeier. The Tigers averaged only 4 yards per play and mustered just 9 points. Though it never got the ground game going and turned the ball over once itself, No. 4 Alabama controlled the game and walked away with a 20-9 victory.
Kalen DeBoer improved to 2-0 against LSU, extending the Tide’s winning streak in the series to 3 games. Dating back to the BCS national title game on Jan. 9, 2012, Alabama has won 13 of the last 15 games against the Tigers.
Alabama also moved to 8-1 on the season. It’s the 15th time in the last 18 seasons Alabama has won at least 8 of its first 9 games to start a year.
The Tide had a 3-0 lead after 15 minutes. The offense was remarkably slow to find a foothold in the game. They turned it over on downs on their opening possession. They stalled out and punted on their next drive after the first play went for 33 yards. The field goal came by way of an LSU fumble that set the offense up at the Tigers’ 24-yard line. Alabama wound up kicking from the 26.
But things started to roll in a 14-0 second quarter. Ty Simpson led touchdown drives of 75 and 66 yards. Sandwiched in between them was a 9-play, 51-yard march that ended in a missed kick.
Simpson lost a fumble early in the fourth quarter that gave LSU life. The Tigers kicked a field goal with 10:28 to go that made it a 17-9 ballgame. After another Alabama punt, LSU took over with a chance to tie the game.
The Tigers went 3-and-out, giving the ball right back. Alabama responded with another field goal to put the game out of reach.
Simpson completed 21 of his 35 passes for 277 yards and a touchdown. Alabama managed only 65 rushing yards (adjusted for sacks) at 2.6 per carry. But explosives from the pass game did enough to generate scoring opportunities for the Tide.
LSU created no such opportunities. Nussmeier threw 21 times for 121 yards before being pulled. Michael Van Buren Jr. replaced him and completed 5 of his 11 passes for 52 yards. Van Buren lost a fumble in the fourth quarter that put a capper on the defeat.
The Tide will host Oklahoma next week. LSU has a home game against Arkansas.
No. 4 Alabama 20, LSU 9
Here’s the Alabama-LSU box score (use the dropdown menu to select team or player stats), followed by the complete play-by-play:
Ty Simpson vs Garrett Nussmeier
Here’s a statistical breakdown of how Heisman frontrunner Ty Simpson performed against LSU counterpart Garrett Nussmeier:
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
