With their destiny directly in their own hands, LSU fell flat on their face on Saturday. The College Playoff Committee had just shocked everyone by ranking Alabama at #5, but that was great news for the Tigers. It was a chance to add a top-5 win to their resume. LSU was considered one of the hottest teams in the country after dominant wins over Mississippi St and Auburn, but now looking back, had more to do with the opponents than who LSU actually was.
It was a close, hard-fought game for 3 quarters,
but when one too many things went wrong early in the 4th quarter, the Tigers panicked and everything went down hill. The Crimson Tide defeated the Tigers 31-13 to improve to 7-2 and continue their dominance over the purple and gold. LSU fell to 6-3, staring another potential 5-loss season in the face with two more top-10 matchups to come in the next two weeks.
Tigers
Jackson Harris
As he’s been since week 4 of the season against Texas A&M, Harris was phenomenal. He finished with 11 receptions for 166 yards. It seemed like every time LSU needed a big play in the passing game, he was there. With an overall Pro Football Focus grade of 78.7, the Tiger WR1 led the entire team.
Trey’Dez Green
It shouldn’t be underappreciated what Green has done the past few weeks. After taking a nasty hit that knocked him out of the Ole Miss game and the following month, he returned two weeks ahead of schedule at Auburn, then continued battling against Alabama.
He surprisingly popped up on the injury report on Friday night, leading all of us questioning whether his knee started bothering him again. It turns out, Green had been battling a stomach bug in the days leading up to he game, but played through it anyway.
He finished with 10 receptions for 85 yards and while clearly not 100%, still giving LSU everything he’s got.
DJ Pickett
The expectations were high for Pickett coming off of an All-Freshman season in the SEC. The sophomore has excelled to not only meet, but surpass those lofty expectations. He’s been on an upwards trajectory throughout the entire season and seems to get better week in and week out.
His 76.3 PFF grade led the defense, as he contributed to the stat sheet in multiple ways. Along with 3 tackles, he recorded a sack, 2 pressures, another QB hit, and didn’t allow a reception while being targeted twice.
Cubs
Braelin Moore
It’s possible that we just saw the worst game of Braelin Moore’s career. There’s no sugar coating it, he was bad. He finished with an overall grade of 52.1, but it was his 26.5 pass blocking grade that was abysmal.
Moore allowed 1 sack, 3 hurries, and 4 total pressures. Alabama was able to create havoc up the middle throughout the game and it showed to be devastating for Sam Leavitt and his ability to find open receivers. He often had to rush, leading him to miss wide open guys.
The guard play on the offensive line has been really bad all season, which has made Moore’s job extremely difficult. On Saturday, though, he was part of the problem.
Jordan Seaton
While Seaton’s overall grade of 69.2 looks decent, there were some bad moments that you just don’t expect to see from a star left tackle that’s getting paid what he is. There were a few plays were an Alabama player came off of the edge with a free rush on Leavitt. While that may not all be on Seaton, you’d expect your stud to help make some adjustments.
He somehow ended up with a pass blocking grade with 85.7, which is surprising, considering that he allowed a sack, a hurry, and 2 total pressures. The sack came on a crucial 4th down for LSU inside their own territory, which led to a turnover on downs and the knockout blow to make it 31-13.
The Tigers simply need Seaton to be better.
Lane Kiffin/Charlie Weis Jr
This was a rough game to watch for the offense, specifically in key situations and red zone opportunities. The play calling was awful in certain situations, leaving question after question about what they were thinking.
The second half started with LSU receiving the ball and they were marching down the field with 7-8 yards per play back to back to back, taking what Alabama was giving them. They then call a wide receiver pass on an end-around, which resulted in a dropped interception. LSU was then in 2nd and 3rd in long, eventually having to settle for a field goal. It was baffling that they voluntarily stopped doing what was working for them.
Later in the game, LSU faced a critical 3rd and short after Alabama retook the lead 17-13 and despite the fact that they were getting stuffed on run after run up the middle all day, decided to run the same direct snap to Dilin Jones that they’ve run 20 times this season and had already run earlier in the game. They lined up with everyone pinched in and had Jones put his hands out for the snap, allowing everyone in the stadium and watching on TV to know what was coming, and STILL ran the play. It got stuffed, LSU had to punt, and that led to a massive return for the Crimson Tide, who scored on the first play to make it 24-13 with less than 10 minutes to play. The game felt over at that point.
The decisions and handling of the game flow just felt off all day when it mattered most and that starts with Kiffin and Weis.
