Tide Offense Rules the Day as Bama Tops LSU
A performance worth celebrating.
If you like offensive football, Saturday night in Tuscaloosa was a game made for you. For those who prefer defense, it was a good night to just go bowling, as LSU-Bama surely would give you nightmares.
Behind a record-setting night from sophomore quarterback Jalen Milroe, Alabama recorded a critical win over rival LSU, outlasting the Tigers 42-28 in front of a raucous Bryant-Denney crowd of 100,077. The Tide took an important step forward towards winning the West as Milroe threw for 219 yards on an efficient 15 for 23 night, but did the most damage with his legs. Offensive coordinator Tommy Reese called his best game of the season, allowing Milroe to run wild as he rushed for 155 yards on 20 carries. In the process, he set an Alabama record for quarterbacks, scoring four rushing touchdowns on the evening. His counterpart, Heisman Trophy candidate Jaden Daniels, was brilliant as well, rushing for 163 yards with a touchdown and he threw for 219 yards, ironically almost mirroring Milroe’s stat line on a 15-25 evening before exiting the game in the 4th quarter with an injury. Furthermore, the much maligned Tide offensive line had their best evening yet, allowing just one sack and opening rushing lanes to the tune of 288 yards on the ground. Bama now needs to top either Kentucky or Auburn to wrap up the West. An Ole Miss loss, which is predicted to come this weekend when they travel to Athens to take on 2nd ranked Georgia, would also put the Tide in the SEC championship game.
It was a statement win for a team that was all but considered dead and buried after a week two loss to Texas and a week three struggle against outmatched South Florida. All Coach Saban, his staff, and a gritty group of Bama players did was go back to work. The result has been seven straight wins, including two victories that avenged the Tide’s only losses from last year. The fact that one of the losses came in overtime to the LSU Tigers made Saturday’s victory even sweeter. Many thought that Alabama could not survive a shootout, yet due to an offense that racked up 507 total yards and a defense that closed the door to a potent Tiger offense in the second half, Bama indeed proved otherwise.
LSU opened the back and forth thriller by getting on the board first on their opening possession. Daniels led a 5 play, 85 yard drive that culminated in a Daniels to Malik Nabers 46 yard touchdown pass. Bama struck right back as Milroe finished a 5 play, 76 yard drive with a 23 yard touchdown run around left end. After the Tide D held LSU on a 4th and 1 from the Bama 42, Milroe found the endzone again, this time from 4 yards out and the first quarter ended with Alabama on top, 14-7. LSU opened the second quarter by marching to the Tide 20 yard line, but Tiger placekicker Damian Ramos missed a 46 yard field goal. Bama then drove to the LSU 29 yard line and ultra reliable Will Reichard missed his first field goal of the season from 47 yards out. Offensive dominance continued as Daniels drove LSU 71 yards in 8 plays and finished off the drive on his own, scoring from 9 yards out to pull the Tigers even at 14. Milroe marched the Tide 74 yards in 9 plays and scored his third touchdown of the first half from 21 yards out to reclaim the lead, 21-14. With 1:01 remaining in the half, the Bama D failed to slow down Daniels and with 5 seconds remaining in the half, he hit Kyren Lacy in the middle of the field from 26 yards out and the half ended knotted at 21.
LSU took its final lead of the game by taking the opening kickoff of the second half and marching 75 yards in 9 plays, ending with a Josh Williams 2 yard touchdown run to put LSU on top, 28-21. Following the script of this classic, Bama responded with a 9 play, 70 yard drive and Roydell Williams’ 16 yard scamper pulled the Tide even at 28 with 7:30 remaining in the 3rd quarter. Finally, the Bama D, aided by a costly Tiger holding penalty, forced LSU to punt on their next possession and the Tide took over on its own 32. Six plays later, Milroe gave Alabama the lead again, scoring his fourth rushing touchdown of the evening to put the Tide up, 35-28. On the first play of the fourth quarter, linebacker Dallas Turner tipped a Daniel pass and it was picked off by corner Terrion Arnold and Bama was set up on the Tiger 25 yard line. The Tide offense did not disappoint as three plays later, Jase McClellan scored from 10 yards out to put the Tide ahead, 42-28 with 13:01 remaining in the contest. The game turned for good on the next play, as Dallas Turner sacked Daniel and knocked him out of the game. Backup Garrett Nussmeier gave it a valiant effort, but the two drives he led in the final 12 minutes failed to score points. On one of their final drives, Bama would bleed 7:10 off the clock and although Reichard would miss his second field goal of the night at the 4:30 mark, the Tide D had found their footing and put the game away. Ironically, despite missing his first two kicks of the season earlier in the game, with an extra point Reichard surpassed the 500 career point mark and is now in sight of breaking the all-time point record at 525 points.
With three regular season games remaining and all of their preseason goals intact, the Tide have improved every week and with Milroe and the offense catching fire, the Tide is now a dangerous team. They are, however, still quite young (if anyone could be called young after nine games) and prone to letdowns. Yet with so much at stake, a step back would be a surprise. Now the Tide turns its attention to a feisty and capable 6-3 Kentucky squad in Lexington on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 12:00 EST.
