BATON ROUGE, LA – We called the 13 committee members who assemble the College Football Playoff rankings everything short of dunderheads and dolts after they stuck a No. 5 next to Alabama’s name.
Well, seems a correction is in order.
Call those committee members visionaries. Prescient. Avant-garde.
Or, maybe this was just a lucky toss of the dart.
Anyway, they saw something in the Crimson Tide the rest of us apparently couldn’t detect, and Alabama lived up to the respect in a 31-13 thrashing of LSU inside one of college football’s most hostile venues.
What shall we call Alabama now?
Underrated?!!
Yes, seriously. Don’t be surprised when Alabama ascends in the next playoff rankings.
If the
committee loved the Tide before, they’ll tingle with enthusiasm for ’em now that they’ve added a win against LSU, ranked No. 14 in the first playoff rankings.
Road wins of this caliber are tough to come by in the SEC, but Alabama’s got two. It’ll hang this pelt alongside its win at Kentucky, the only UK loss in the season’s first two months.
Look, Alabama still sometimes looks incomplete — LSU plowed through the Tide defense for more than 450 yards — but who isn’t a little messy in this upside-down season?
Alabama found ways to win. LSU found ways to lose.
As the fourth quarter progressed, a rout had replaced what for three quarters had been a tense game.
Keelon Russell outplayed Sam Leavitt, and, in the understatement of the night, Kalen DeBoer outcoached Lane Kiffin.
Alabama is sitting pretty. LSU faces peril.
Alabama makes winning plays. LSU makes losing plays
LSU is left to regret a bundle of missed opportunities and wasted momentum. LSU missed a field goal, then twice failed to convert fourth downs while inside field-goal range. Leavitt killed another promising drive with an awful interception thrown into a thicket of defenders.
Even as the wasted opportunities piled up, the Tigers took their first lead late in the third quarter, and the band played that NSFW song “Neck” that LSU fans love, and this place revved up to such a decibel level that you could appreciate its reputation for being one of the best home-field advantages in the nation.
None of it rattled Russell.
Alabama’s quarterback showed he’s one cool cat.
With the crowd roaring, he tossed a 57-yard strike to Rico Scott. LSU fans took a breath for air, then hollered as loud as they could for a third-down play in the red zone. Alabama needed 9 yards to move the chains, so Russell scrambled for 10.
One play later, he flicked an easy scoring toss to Josh Ford.
Suddenly, sweet sounds of silence.
No more “Neck.” Just Alabama standing on LSU’s neck.
Lane Kiffin still can't beat 'loaded' Alabama
On Alabama’s next drive, Russell flicked a 25-yard beauty to Cederian Morgan, and suddenly the crowd was roaring again, but all the noise came from the southeast corner of the stadium, where the visiting fans were stationed.
Morgan looked straight into the teeth of the LSU crowd, and he danced.
Call it a playoff jig? Still work to do, but Alabama is in much better shape than its rival.
It’s hasty to say this loss eliminates LSU, but here’s the cold truth: LSU has played three good teams this season, and it’s lost every time. Two more good opponents await.
That’s trouble.
Kiffin for so long envied LSU coaches who got to coach their home games inside this venue. Tiger Stadium became one of the many selling points when Kiffin decided to leave Mississippi for a conference rival.
And, still, Kiffin can’t beat Alabama.
In the run-up to the game, Kiffin polished up Alabama. He described the Tide as “loaded,” and he became the first person on planet earth to compare this Alabama defense to a vintage Nick Saban defense.
It’s as if Kiffin knew what was coming, and, maybe he did, because he’s now 0-6 against Alabama while the coach of three different SEC schools.
With more than six minutes remaining, LSU fans started marching for the stadium exits.
They’d seen enough.
Kiffin’s first LSU season is accelerating toward the bust bin.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Listen to his podcast, "College Football Unfiltered." Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alabama wins it, LSU blows it, and CFP committee flexes its visionary ranking
