Tommy Deas
TideSports.com Associate Editor
BATON ROUGE, La. | LSU didn't try to trick the University of Alabama's defense Saturday night.
After losing two of their first six games - a not-as-close-as-the-final-score, five-point loss to Mississippi State and a blowout defeat at the hands of Auburn - the Tigers determined to forge their offensive identity as a hard-nosed running team that tries to make the occasional big play in the passing game.
That philosophy, playing to the limitations of quarterback Anthony Jennings and the strengths of a stable of running backs, gave the 14th-ranked Tigers a three-game winning streak going into the contest against No. 4 Alabama.
It also played right into the strengths of the Crimson Tide defense, rated second-best in the nation against the run. UA was allowing just over 78 yards per game on the ground heading into the game.
But in the end, it was pass defense that gave Alabama the edge in its 20-13 victory at Tiger Stadium. Alabama stopped four straight pass plays in overtime - with the help of an LSU drop on a screen pass on first down - to keep its SEC and national championship hopes alive.
After LSU fullback Melvin Jones let the screen pass slip through his fingers on the first play of overtime, the Tigers kept passing and Alabama kept defending.
Cyrus Jones blanketed Malichi Dupre down the sideline on a second-down incompletion, Nick Perry broke up a third-down pass in the end zone and Jones broke up the last-gasp, final-play pass - again in the end zone - to end the game.
In the first half, LSU pounded away almost exclusively from the I-formation and nearly reached UA's average rushing yield by halftime with 74 yards on the ground, those coming on 23 attempts.
It was in the passing game where the Alabama defense made its biggest play of the first half, and where it gave up the biggest.
LSU quarterback Anthony Jennings completed just 2 of 10 attempts for 31 yards before intermission, but one of those passes was a 14-yard touchdown toss to Dupre to give LSU at 7-0 lead late in the first half.
Just before halftime, after UA had tied the game, Jennings was intercepted by Eddie Jackson to set up a go-ahead field goal that gave Alabama a 10-7 lead at intermission.
A called pass on LSU's opening drive of the second half turned into a 15-yard scramble by Jennings to set up a tying field goal to cap a 57-yard, ground-oriented drive that set a tone for the Tigers' offense for the second half.
The Tigers seemed to be ready to break the UA defense with back-to-back drives of 12 and 14 plays in the second half, but neither drive resulted in points, and Alabama seemed to grow stronger after that, culminating in the four-and-out that decided the game in overtime.
https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1702105
TideSports.com Associate Editor
BATON ROUGE, La. | LSU didn't try to trick the University of Alabama's defense Saturday night.
After losing two of their first six games - a not-as-close-as-the-final-score, five-point loss to Mississippi State and a blowout defeat at the hands of Auburn - the Tigers determined to forge their offensive identity as a hard-nosed running team that tries to make the occasional big play in the passing game.
That philosophy, playing to the limitations of quarterback Anthony Jennings and the strengths of a stable of running backs, gave the 14th-ranked Tigers a three-game winning streak going into the contest against No. 4 Alabama.
It also played right into the strengths of the Crimson Tide defense, rated second-best in the nation against the run. UA was allowing just over 78 yards per game on the ground heading into the game.
But in the end, it was pass defense that gave Alabama the edge in its 20-13 victory at Tiger Stadium. Alabama stopped four straight pass plays in overtime - with the help of an LSU drop on a screen pass on first down - to keep its SEC and national championship hopes alive.
After LSU fullback Melvin Jones let the screen pass slip through his fingers on the first play of overtime, the Tigers kept passing and Alabama kept defending.
Cyrus Jones blanketed Malichi Dupre down the sideline on a second-down incompletion, Nick Perry broke up a third-down pass in the end zone and Jones broke up the last-gasp, final-play pass - again in the end zone - to end the game.
In the first half, LSU pounded away almost exclusively from the I-formation and nearly reached UA's average rushing yield by halftime with 74 yards on the ground, those coming on 23 attempts.
It was in the passing game where the Alabama defense made its biggest play of the first half, and where it gave up the biggest.
LSU quarterback Anthony Jennings completed just 2 of 10 attempts for 31 yards before intermission, but one of those passes was a 14-yard touchdown toss to Dupre to give LSU at 7-0 lead late in the first half.
Just before halftime, after UA had tied the game, Jennings was intercepted by Eddie Jackson to set up a go-ahead field goal that gave Alabama a 10-7 lead at intermission.
A called pass on LSU's opening drive of the second half turned into a 15-yard scramble by Jennings to set up a tying field goal to cap a 57-yard, ground-oriented drive that set a tone for the Tigers' offense for the second half.
The Tigers seemed to be ready to break the UA defense with back-to-back drives of 12 and 14 plays in the second half, but neither drive resulted in points, and Alabama seemed to grow stronger after that, culminating in the four-and-out that decided the game in overtime.
https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1702105
