Alabama hosted a LSU team in its first action after firing head coach Brian Kelly, and won the game in ugly fashion by a 20-9 score.
It was evident from the jump that this one wouldn’t be easy. Stop me
if you’ve heard this before, but Alabama couldn’t get anything going on the ground and thus put it all on Ty Simpson’s shoulders. He was able to move the ball a bit, but the first two possessions stalled in LSU territory. Fortunately it was the same story for the LSU offense, and they shanked a short field goal chance for what would have been the first points of the game between Alabama’s drives.
Nikhai Hill-Green forced and recovered a fumble deep in LSU territory on the Bayou Bengals’ second possession, but the offense stalled yet again. A 45-yard field goal from Conor Talty, which was struck very well and split the uprights, gave Alabama a 3-0 lead to end the first quarter.
Stop me again if you’ve heard this before: on the opening possession of the second quarter, Alabama’s run defense busted for an explosive by LSU RB Harlem Berry to flip the field. To their credit, Kane Wommack’s unit bowed up from there, and LSU tied the game at 3-3.
A couple of plays later, Simpson hit Josh Cuevas on a beautiful deep ball down the sideline to put the ball back into scoring territory, and Daniel Hill was able to power it in from the five yard line for a 10-3 lead. This is where championship caliber teams tend to clamp down on vulnerable opponents, and this team has struggled to do that for most of the season.
The defense was up to the challenge, forcing a quick three and out. Simpson promptly hit Germie Bernard on a play action pass down the field and Alabama was right back in the red zone. Sadly, it didn’t do much good. A jet sweep and a screen lost eight yards on the first two downs, setting up a 3rd and 18 just outside the 20. Ryan Grubb pulled out his clearly favored pass option for Germie Bernard, and it worked pretty well. Unfortunately Lotzeir Brooks only got 11 on the catch along the right sideline, and Conor Talty missed the chip shot attempt from the right hash.
Undeterred, the defense forced another quick three and out. Simpson got the ball back with a minute to play and hit Brooks for 53 yards, then Ryan Williams up the seam for the touchdown. All of a sudden, an offense that had been uneven for most of the half took a 17-3 lead into the break on a robust 244 yards, 7.4 per play. Alabama would have a chance to Make Their Asses Quit coming out of the locker room.
Things didn’t exactly go to plan. LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier came out slinging and promptly moved the ball across the 50. It appeared that Alabama would have a shot to get off the field at the edge of field goal range, but a facemask penalty on Jordan Renaud extended the drive and moved the ball into the red zone. Bray Hubbard just missed an interception in the end zone, and after a Yhonzae Pierre sack LSU settled for a field goal to pull within 11.
Alabama stalled on the next drive. Simpson tried two deep balls and should have gotten the benefit of a pass interference flag on the first one, to Brooks. The call wasn’t made, however, and Ty just barely missed Bernard on third down. An opportunity to put an opponent away was squandered again.
LSU interim coach Frank Wilson benched Nussmeier at that point in favor of sophomore Michael Van Buren, who was expected to get some playing time in the game. Van Buren is more athletic than Nussmeier and his package seemed to include moving pockets on every snap. He wasn’t the most accurate, but WR Zavion Thomas made an acrobatic diving catch to help convert a first down, and then Van Buren appeared to convert one on a third down scramble.
Fortunately, replay showed Van Buren starting to slide just before he reached the marker and LSU jumped on 4th and short. On 4th and 6, Wilson called for a punt and Simpson had another shot. He hooked up with Cuevas again for a first down to open the possession. Brooks broke a tackle on a screen to set up 3rd and short, and Bernard converted on a sweep. As a result, Alabama carried that 17-6 advantage and possession of the ball into the fourth quarter.
In yet another sign that this team just can’t handle prosperity, Simpson had the ball knocked out of his hand while standing in the pocket and LSU recovered in Alabama territory. Ty still has a tendency to lose track of time back there, which isn’t uncommon for a dude who is still developing on the fly.
Van Buren threw a dart into triple coverage to get the ball inside the Alabama ten, but a false start followed by a sack from LT Overton pushed them back outside the red zone. LSU kicker Damion Ramos converted his third kick on four tries, and Alabama was back in a one score game against a team that they should have been handling.
With the running backs still unable to get anything going, Simpson kept on an inverted veer and rumbled for a first down. LSU helped out with a personal foul on the play, and Alabama was in LSU territory yet again. Sadly, it was more of the same. Simpson had Isaiah Horton downfield with single coverage, but the ball was knocked away and it appeared that Horton could have made a better effort to go up for it. Simpson then just missed a wide open Williams while under duress, and Alabama had to punt one more time.
Alabama managed to down at the two yard line, pinning the young QB deep in his own end. LSU was unable to get anything with the run, which set up a third and long. Wommack sent the house and Van Buren read it, but TE Trey’Dez Green dropped what would have been a huge play and LSU was forced to punt the football again. The offensive football on display from both sides after the break was so disgusting it would be lucky to get a NC-17 rating in Hollywood.
Horton made an outstanding contested catch along the sideline to move the ball back into LSU territory. but the drive stalled out shortly thereafter. Talty was able to knock through a 44 yarder for a 20-9 lead and a little bit of breathing room. With three minutes to play, Pierre provided the dagger with a strip sack.
Alabama won the game and it really wasn’t in doubt for most of the evening, but the offense just hasn’t really clicked for a few weeks now. The good news is that the misses are generally close, but it just goes to show that it’s tough to maintain an elite passing game with a total inability to run the football. The coaching staff seemed to think that the running game would be better tonight, coming out of the bye. It was resoundingly not.
The defense played its heart out and will have to continue to do so as the offense searches for some sort of consistency. There is still room for hope that they will put it all together by the postseason, but two very tough defenses remain on the schedule before we get to that point.
As they say, a win is a win.
Nebraska is playing UCLA on Fox tonight if that interests you.
Roll Tide.
