TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — With 227 of Alabama’s 299 total yards, quarterback Jalen Hurts made the difference Saturday night between the Crimson Tide and the Tigers.
Hurts was able to efficiently pass against LSU’s secondary, and he made the defensive backs pay for each mistake or misstep they made.
In the first quarter, Hurts threw consecutive passes of 14, 15 and 47 yards to set up Alabama’s first touchdown. Two of those passes were thrown against junior cornerback Kevin Toliver.
Toliver was tested time and time again, but couldn’t match Alabama’s receivers.
On top of 183 passing yards, Hurts rushed 44 yards with a rushing touchdown that gave Alabama a critical 21-3 lead in the third quarter.
Last season as a true freshman, Hurts handed LSU a 10-0 loss behind his 114 rushing yards and 107 passing yards.
On Saturday night in Tuscaloosa, LSU was reminded of just how hard it is to stop the dual threat quarterback as he was able to escape LSU’s pressure and make enough happen to ruin LSU’s chances of an upset.
Hurts’ 227 yards accounted for over 75 percent of Alabama’s offense. He made big plays when they needed them and connected on 11 of 24 passes.
What truly costed LSU was poor execution on its part. Senior quarterback Danny Etling just couldn’t get the ball on the mark to his receivers when up against Alabama.
“I wish I would have put the ball up there a little more and timed it up better.,” Etling said following the loss.
Offensive coordinator Matt Canada’s game plan was clearly to go for the deep passes, but “missed timing,’ according to Etling, and a few dropped passes made it impossible.
“We’ve got to be able to move the football,” Orgeron said. “Obviously, they’re very good on defense, but we moved ball sometimes. We had 306 total yards. They had 299. But we just didn’t make the plays we’re supposed to make, convert when we’re supposed to and put the ball in the end zone.”
Etling’s longest pass of the night was a 31-yard bomb to sophomore receiver Stephen Sullivan in the first quarter. And not to mention, Etling threw his second pick of the season which, like any good team does, Alabama took advantage.
Etling’s interception set up a touchdown from Bama running back Bo Scarbrough, giving the Tide a 14-0 lead.
“It comes back to execution,” senior receiver Russell Gage said. “Against teams like this, you don’t get any opportunities.”
In the trenches
On paper, LSU did everything right — it outgained Alabama, held the Tide to their lowest rushing yards of the season, converted nine third downs and even had two more first downs, for what it’s worth.
But the number that matters is the big one.
Junior pass rusher Arden Key played arguably his best game of the season with eight tackles, but the things he did on the field that don’t translate on paper were huge for LSU.
Key applied pressure to Hurts all night and had two quarterback hurries, but senior nose tackle Greg Gilmore said the team needs to do more.
“We need to rush every play,” Gilmore said. “If we’ve got three or four [hurries], we need six or seven. That’s how we can contribute to the team as far as stopping the deep balls and throwing game.”
Sophomore linebacker Devin White totaled a team high nine tackles, giving Hurts as much trouble as the defense could.
“They were playing mint defense so you have to be able to throw the ball effectively,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said of LSU’s defense.
LSU stopped Alabama’s run game early putting seven and eight guys on the front and at times tried to limit Hurts from running the ball.
“We played good in the trenches as far as the running game,” Gilmore said. “We need a little more pass rushing on the play action to help the deep ball. Our group as d-linemen, we can help the team.”
